Final answer:
To correctly complete the fill-in task, 'the' should be used before plural geographical names, large bodies of water, deserts, and points on the globe, but not before singular mountains (unless 'Mount' is omitted), countries, cities, streets, or lakes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The task of filling in the blanks with the appropriate definite article ("the" or none) is fairly straightforward but helps to understand when to use definite articles with geographical names. Here's how the blanks would be correctly filled in:
- I went skiing in the Alps.
- The ship disappeared somewhere in the Pacific.
- There was a rock concert in Hyde Park.
- I'd like to go on holiday to Australia.
- The highest mountain in New Zealand is Mount Cook.
- The river flows into the Mediterranean.
- Hawaii is an American state.
- There are many theaters in Broadway.
- The capital of the United Kingdom is London.
- Mark Twain wrote about the Mississippi River.
- The plane crashed somewhere in the Sahara.
- They went on honeymoon to the Niagara Falls.
When using geographical names, 'the' is typically used before plural names such as 'the Alps' or 'the United States', oceans and seas like 'the Atlantic', rivers like 'the Mississippi', deserts, forests, gulfs, and peninsulas, and points on the globe. However, 'the' is not used before the names of individual mountains unless the word 'Mount' is omitted, countries (with some exceptions like 'the Netherlands'), cities, streets, lakes (with exceptions like 'the Great Lakes'), or continents. This list helps fuse understanding geography with language arts skills.