Article The

[gauri_agr]

Hi All,

I am working hard to find where to use the and not to use "the". Please explain the following

1. After reaching the/(no the) hospital .
2. Before sleeping in the /(no the) bed, i always do brushing my teeth.
3. The/(no the) doctor checked me in the morning for my fever.

Please tell me the answer with explanation.

Thanks
Gauri

[Barb_D]

Hi All,

I am working hard to find where to use the and not to use "the". Please explain the following

1. After reaching the/(no the) hospital .
2. Before sleeping in the /(no the) bed, i always do brushing my teeth.
3. The/(no the) doctor checked me in the morning for my fever.

Please tell me the answer with explanation.

Thanks
Gauri

1. After reaching the hospital, ... (you know this is not a complete sentence, right?). While in BrE if you are a patient in this type of facility, you are "in hospital" in all other uses, it requires an article. (And in the US, you are in the hospital if you are a patient.)

2. Before going to bed, I always brush my teeth. (Your sentence is simply not natural. There is no point in correcting it when no native speaker would say it.) We go to church, to school, to bed (and a few others) when the emphasis is on the activity - to worship, to learn, to sleep. If you say "to the church" you mean you are travelling to the buildling, but not for worship. If you say "to the school" it means to the building, but not to attend classes. If you say "to the bed" you are going to that piece of furniture, but not for the purpose of sleeping.

3. The doctor. It's a common noun, so it requires an article. Dr. Jones is a proper noun, so you don't have an article.

[Winwin2011]

1.
3. The doctor. It's a common noun, so it requires an article. Dr. Jones is a proper noun, so you don't have an article.

I think 'doctor is a common noun. Can we say " Doctors usually work shift in hospitals" without an article (the)?

Thank you.

[virus99]

No teacher

(In your first example you can't omit the artikle.)

In your last question it would have a different meaning if you omitted the artikle.

Doctors usually work at night in hospitals. <------ all doctors in all hospitals
The doctors usually work at night in hospitals. <------- particular doctors, Dr. Hauser and Dr. Jones...

[5jj]

If we 'go to the doctor' or 'see the doctor', we very often mean simply that we are going to seek medical advice. We don't necessarily have a specific doctor in mind.

Fred:The doctor told me to take a couple of days off work.

Fred may be referring to a particular doctor known to both speaker and listener, or he may simply be reporting that a doctor has told him this. Context will make this clear.

Although the word 'doctor' refers to a person, we use it in a similar way to the way we use some places: 'the' used before some places

[gauri_agr]

thanks all ....learning slowly...:)

[Barb_D]

Articles are really, really hard. Don't be discouraged.