Grammar Question

[NDIStudent]

Why is it OK to say go to school, or go to church, but not OK to say "go to Cinema"

[Tdol]

It's often difficult or even impossible to say why we do something. Language rules can be arbitrary, so the answer is simply because we do it this way. When the majority of speakers of a language follow a certain pattern of usage, it becomes a norm, or rule. I say go to school and go to the cinema because everyone else does.

[5jj]

Welcome to the forum NDIStudent.

Please try to give your threads more helpful titles - many threads are about a 'grammar question'. 'Go to cinema?' would have been fine,

[5jj]

It's often difficult or even impossible to say why we do something. Language rules can be arbitrary, so the answer is simply because we do it this way.

Could we have that appear at the top of the page? It's so true.

[~Mav~]

*** NOT A TEACHER ***

"Go to school" or "go to church" means an action (learn or pray). It doesn't mean a place whereas "go to the cinema" means a place (cinema).

I would agree on this, but you go to the cinema (presumably) to watch a film.
He goes to the school. (He's a student.) <---> He went to the school to meet his son's teacher.

He went to the cinema to watch the new blockbuster. In this case, we still say "to the cinema, just like we say, for example, "he went to the cinema to date his girlfriend."

[5jj]

You are right, mav.

It just so happens that we go to church,school,hospital,college,university,etc, but we go to the opera, the ballet, the theatre, the cinema, the pub, etc.