American English

[sondra]

Hello,

Do American English speakers use 'in' with words as church, prison, school, hospital, university, college, etc when these words are used in their usual meaning? Do you use 'a' or 'the' with them?

He is in school. (Enrolled as a student)

He is at school.(For some different reasons)

He is in hospital.(As a patient)

He is at hospital.(Visiting somebody)

He is in church.(To pray)

He is at church.(For some different reasons)

He is in university/college/prison/
He is at university/college/prison/
Thanks

 

[SoothingDave]

Give the threads you start useful titles.

Limit the number of questions in each thread. Ideally to one question.

Americans use "the" with "hospital." He's in the hospital. She is at the hospital visiting him.

He is in school. (Enrolled as a student)​

Yes.

He is at school.(For some different reasons)​

Yes, or "he is at the school."

He is in church.(To pray)

He is at church.(For some different reasons)​

No. "He is at church" means to me that he is attending a service at the church at the moment.

"He is in the church" would mean he was in the building. As would "he is at the church," though with "at" he could be outside or inside the building.

 

[sondra]

Let me choose the titles myself ;-).

Thanks

 

[emsr2d2]

Let me choose the titles myself ;-).

Thanks

If you give your posts useful titles, then of course you can choose them yourself. However, if your posts don't give a good indication of the content, you will get a lot of comments over and over again in the same vein as "Give your posts useful titles".

A good title for this post might have been "American English - in church or at church?" or something similar.

 

[Rover_KE]

Let me choose the titles myself ;-).

Note this extract from the forum guidelines:

Post Titles
Thread titles should include all or part of the word/phrase being discussed

 

[sondra]

As always, I don't expect much from this site:-D.

 

[Rover_KE]

Let us know when you find a better one for the same price.

 

[BobK]

If you give your posts useful titles, then of course you can choose them yourself. However, if your posts don't give a good indication of the content, you will get a lot of comments over and over again in the same vein as "Give your posts useful titles".

A good title for this post might have been "American English - in church or at church?" or something similar.

Indeed. When I saw the subject line yesterday I ignored the thread; I am only here because a post has been reported.

b