[Grammar] school, the school, church, the church, hospital, the hospital

[atabitaraf]

1. He goes to school >> so he is a student.
2. He goes to the school >> so he is not a student.
3. He goes to church >> so who is he?
4. He goes to the church >> ?
5. He goes to hospital >> ?
6. He goes to the hospital >> ?

 

[emsr2d2]

Do you have a question for us, abitaraf? What does >> mean?

When must you submit the answers to this exercise to your teacher?

 

[atabitaraf]

Do you have a question for us, abitaraf? What does >> mean?

When must you submit the answers to this exercise to your teacher?

I used '>>' to better isolate the statements and conclusions out of the statements.
(No, ma'am, I'm not a student, I teach, and these are some of the points I found in different ways for Br E and Ame E so I wanted to clarify the ambiguity. I would be grateful if you helped.)

 

[emsr2d2]

I used '>>' to better isolate the statements and conclusions out of the statements.
(No, ma'am, I'm not a student, I teach, and these are some of the points I found in different ways for Br E and Ame E so I wanted to clarify the ambiguity. I would be grateful if you helped.)

Don't you think it would have been helpful to explain all of that in post #1 instead of just presenting us with a list of unconnected and strangely punctuated statements and conclusions?

Please explain what ambiguities between BrE and AmE you were trying to demonstrate.

 

[atabitaraf]

You're right, it was due to the punctuation I usually use on the board in class for the time limitations, sorry.

I remember I've seen it somewhere that in the sentence 'He went to hospital.' British people think of 'he' as a patient but Americans do not. I wanted to know the general rule in each dialect, and the subject in each of the mentioned sentences when 'the' is not used.

 

[bhaisahab]

Certainly, in BrE, "He went to hospital" would suggest that he was ill or injured in some way. I don't know about AmE.

 

[Barb_D]

In the US, patients, visitors and medical staff all go to THE hospital.
She was in a car accident. She is in the hospital.
Mary is visiting a friend who was in a car accident. Mary is at the hospital.

 

[atabitaraf]

In the US, patients, visitors and medical staff all go to THE hospital.
She was in a car accident. She is in the hospital.
Mary is visiting a friend who was in a car accident. Mary is at the hospital.

Thank you, is it just for the hospital or you use 'the' for other public places as well?
More specifically, who goes to church/temple? Who goes to the church/temple?

 

[Barb_D]

We use church/synagogue/school the same was as they do in the UK.

Go to church to participate in religious services. Go to the church to go to go the building.
Go to school to attend classes. Go to the school to go to the building.

 

[Raymott]

1. He goes to school >> so he is a student.
2. He goes to the school >> so he is not a student.

A person who goes to church is a churchgoer. (No, I'm not kidding.)
However, it's illogical to say that a person who merely goes to a church is not a churchgoer, or that someone who goes to a school is not a student.
So, 2 is fallacious.