Explaining when to use "the"

[quemilagro]

I'm having a problem explaining when to use the definate article "the".

We say "I go to church every week."
"I go to school every day."
"Do you want to go to college?"
We don't use the church, the school or the college because they represent an idea of what happens at these places. But we use "the" with the church, the school and the college to talk about the actual place.

How does a teacher explain I'm going home, going to bed, or going to work without use of the definate article?

Thanks for your help.

[Anglika]

Because in each case there is an underlying general concept of "home", "bed" and "work".

[quemilagro]

Thanks for the response. I understand that there is an "underlying concept" of bed, work, etc but isn't there also an underlying concept of the bed, the work, the prison as well?

If a student says, "I'm going to the home." it means the place where everything that happens in a home is there, in that building.

[rj1948]

I'm having a problem explaining when to use the definate article "the".

We say "I go to church every week."
"I go to school every day."
"Do you want to go to college?"
We don't use the church, the school or the college because they represent an idea of what happens at these places. But we use "the" with the church, the school and the college to talk about the actual place.

How does a teacher explain I'm going home, going to bed, or going to work without use of the definate article?

Thanks for your help.

The school,the church,the market, the hospital-The is used when refer to them as a definite place,building or an object.THE IS NOT USED TO REFER TO THE NORMAL ACTIVITY THAT GOES ON THERE.
SEE THE THREAD WENT AND HAS GONE.
Regards,
rj1948.

[Soup]

How does a teacher explain I'm going home, going to bed, or going to work without use of the definate article?

Here's one way. Church, school, college, bed, and home stand for concept, e.g., pray, study, learn, sleep, and rest, respectively.

1. I go to church/pray every week.
2. I go to school/study every day.
3. Do you want to go to college/learn?
4. He went to bed/sleep.
5. Are you going home/to rest?
6. They are in prison/paying for their crimes.

[riverkid]

Originally Posted by quemilagro View Post
How does a teacher explain I'm going home, going to bed, or going to work without use of the definate article?

+++++++++++++++++

Let me suggest a process of active comparison. Have students actually perform examples that relate to the general sense of this use and then also do examples that are more specific. Soup provided some great examples of the general sense usage. Make up some specific examples and have students do both.

1. I go to church/pray every week. vs I went to the church to talk to the priest.
2. I go to school/study every day. vs We went to the school so the kids could play.
3. Do you want to go to college/learn? vs Do you want to go to the college library?
4. He went to bed/sleep. vs He went over to the bed to get his book.
5. Are you going home/to rest? vs [I can't think of other uses that are all that natural]
6. They are in prison/paying for their crimes. vs They are at the prison doing interviews

Then, after they've had practice, have them make up some of their own examples of both.

The closer that the examples are to the students real life, the better it will be for retention.