 Re: when to eliminate "the"
Interestingly this has cropped up in other questions. Whilst the above answer is reasoned it is not as easy as that.
Consider:
We are going to the church fete. (activity)
I am going to the school football game. (activity)
They are both locations but they are also activities that I could be participating in.
That is why I do not believe that we can set out a hard and fast rule. It is, as has been said, a manner of speech, something that we acquire and other learners will have some difficulty with. |