Hi & welcome, Alan!  Recently you wrote in a message to Flavio Bessa:   
      
   FB>  Although I am not a native speaker, I believe the correct   
   FB>  sentence would be "I live at the Moscow region".   
      
   AI>  I am a native english speaker, not to be confused with   
   AI>  Professor or teacher..   
      
      
              That's fine with me.  Because I am an English teacher, I often need   
   help from folks like you to break down a topic into manageable chunks....  :-)   
      
      
      
   AI>  I would say "I live in the Moscow area".   
      
      
              In Alexander's case, yes.  I could also tell him the ABC Restaurant   
   which I referred to earlier is in the Greater Vancouver area.   
      
              Moscow is the name of a city, i.e. a name most adults from Hither &   
   Yon will recognize.  If they don't know where Vancouver &/or Penticton is they   
   can easily look it up.  For those from across the pond the name of the nearest   
   major city is probably close enough... and such names rarely begin with "the".   
   "Greater Vancouver" is correct.  But when we add more detail & say things like   
   "Greater Vancouver Regional District" we also add "the" at the beginning.  ;-)   
      
      
      
   A1>  Region os OK too, I just prefer area.. :)   
      
      
              Agreed.  I tend to think of a region as larger than an area, but my   
   concept may differ somewhat from Alexander's because he lives in Russia & I've   
   never been there.  I don't feel strongly about what he prefers either....  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)