Hi, Ardith Hinton!   
   I read your message from  04.09.2016 15:56   
   about Ships.   
      
    ak>>  BTW, can you clarify the using of "the"   
    AH>                                 |use   
      
    ak>>  when we speak a ship name?   
    AH>        |when we speak of a ship's name   
    AH>        |when we speak of the name of a ship   
      
   It's interesting, can _I speak a name_ (I don't want to speak about/of the   
   name, I just want to speak (to pronouce) that name. Or, maybe, I should use   
   "say a name"?   
      
   .... when we say a ship's name.   
      
    AH>            Here's another example.  A "pinafore" is a sort of bib apron   
    AH> commonly worn by young English girls during the 19th century.  "HMS   
    AH> PINAFORE" is a comic operetta about a ship by this name.  Reciting   
    AH> lyrics by memory...   
      
    AH>                    We'll give three cheers and one cheer more   
    AH>                    For the captain of the Pinafore.   
      
    AH>            AFAIC the captain of the Pinafore is like the President of   
    AH> the United States... while various people may have been selected for the   
    AH> position, there's only one such title holder at any given time.  And   
    AH> it's highly unlikely there's any other real or imaginary ship which is   
    AH> officially named "Pinafore"....  :-))   
      
   ....especially when we say "Captain of Pinafore". It's all clear IMHO, no need   
   for two "the". ;)   
      
    AH>            More examples:   
      
    AH>                    (in a popular song) the good ship "Lollipop"   
    AH>                    the legendary ship "Flying Dutchman"   
    AH>                    the royal yacht "Britannia"   
      
      
    AH>            You might also find it helpful to look up MUTINY ON THE   
    AH> BOUNTY.  With numerous spinoffs from Charles Nordhoff's classic 1932   
    AH> historical novel there's probably a wealth of commentaries & plot   
    AH> summaries available.   
      
   So "the" is most commonly used when we speak of ship's names.   
      
      
    AH>            From my CANADIAN OXFORD DICTIONARY:   
      
    AH>                     Bounty   
    AH>                        a ship of the British navy, part of whose crew   
    AH> mutinied   
    AH>                        against their commander, Captain Bligh... [etc.]   
      
    AH> The name of the ship is "Bounty".  In the common parlance, however, we   
    AH> refer to it as "the Bounty".  And as for Captain Bligh... again, we   
    AH> could say "President Obama".  In the common parlance many people prefer   
    AH> to type "the POTUS".  But we then have to rely on context clues to   
    AH> determine which one[s] they mean....  ;-)   
      
   -----Beginning of the citation-----   
   Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 8th edition   
      
   bounty   
   BrE   / ba?nti /   
   NAmE   / ba?nti /   
     noun   
   ....   
   ----- The end of the citation -----   
      
      
   In my Oxford it was with "the".   
   -----Beginning of the citation-----   
   Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 8th edition   
   HMS Bounty   
   ( also The Bounty )   
   a British ship on which a famous mutiny took place in 1789 . The ship was   
   returning from Tahiti in the Pacific Ocean when one of the officers, Fletcher   
   Christian,  led the crew against their harsh captain, William Bligh . Captain   
   Bligh and some men who supported him were left in a small open boat while   
   Christian and the crew returned on HMS Bounty to Tahiti and then settled in   
   the Pitcairn Islands .   
   See also Mutiny on the Bounty   
   (C) Oxford University Press, 2010   
   ----- The end of the citation -----   
      
   Bye, Ardith!   
   Alexander Koryagin   
   ENGLISH_TUTOR 2016   
      
   --- Paul's Win98SE VirtualBox   
    * Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)