Use of article "the" with places

Question

I have a few questions about use of articles with places:

Could anyone please point me in the direction of a concrete list of rules for using "the" with placenames? Is there a rule about use of "the" with manmade/unique places (for example, I visited the Golden Gate Bridge)? If there is such a rule for unique places, are most country names (Japan, France, Egypt...) exceptions?

We all know that there is a distinct difference between "I went to school today" (because I am a student) and "I went to the school today" (for a reason other than learning). Why do we always use "the" with places like "bank" and "grocery store" when we don't necessarily always mean the one particular building where we opened our account/typically shop every time we talk about them? For example, "I went to the grocery store (Price Chopper) on Monday" and today "I am going to the grocery store (Shaw's)" again. Is it because when we say "I am going to the grocery store" we have one in mind, though we may not have announced it? Does it have something to do with names of buildings taking "the"?

Does British English make a distinction between "go to/be in hospital" and "go to/be in the hospital"? My students asked me about use of "go to hospital" and I have never heard this. In American English, we always say "go to the hospital". For example, if you call 911, someone will usually take you "to the hospital" even though you may not necessarily know which one (so why use a definite article?). Patients are described as being "in the hospital" whether we know which one they are in or not. Is there a reason for this?

Finally, how do you explain lack of article and preposition usage in "go home"?

Crux_online · Accepted Answer

AnonymousCould anyone please point me in the direction of a concrete list of rules for using "the" with placenames?

http://www2.gsu.edu/%7Eeslhpb/aegweb/exercises/x9/x9-A/the_proper_names.htm is a great start

Interesting that you bring up The Golden Gate Bridge as an example. I think that is an exception--likely one of many. I've been to Mackinac Bridge (a similar type of place, but conspicuously lacking the article).

I'm not sure about why 'home' uses no article or preposition when indicating movement with it as the destination, other than to say that for 1000 years we've done that with other words by removing the '-ward' suffix:

go south(ward)
go home(ward)

C

Paco2004 · Answer

Anonymous Is there a rule about use of "the" with manmade/unique places (for example, I visited the Golden Gate Bridge)?

"The Golden Gate Bridge" is "(The Golden Gate) Bridge". "The Golden Gate" is a nickname for the Spanish fort (presidio) that stood in the place now at San Francisco's side of the Golden Gate Bridge. The name of the Golden Gate or "El Portal Dorado" comes from the name of a legendary city "City of the Golden Gate" which is believed to be in the sunken continent Atlantis. Also it might be related to the fact California has been called "El Dorado Country".

paco

Khoff · Answer

Does British English make a distinction between "go to/be in hospital" and "go to/be in the hospital"? My students asked me about use of "go to hospital" and I have never heard this. In American English, we always say "go to the hospital". For example, if you call 911, someone will usually take you "to the hospital" even though you may not necessarily know which one (so why use a definite article?). Patients are described as being "in the hospital" whether we know which one they are in or not. Is there a reason for this?

In British English, they make a distinction between being "in hospital" (as a patient) and "in the hospital" (as a visitor, delivery man, etc.) -- similar to the distinction you described between "going to school" and "going to the school." In the U.S., this same distinction would be made by choosing between "in the hospital" and "at the hospital."

As to why we go to "the grocery store" or "the hospital" rather than "a grocery store" or "a hospital," I have no idea. I think it's just conventional.

Are you a new Anonymous? If so, welcome! It would be nice if you would register; then we could dsitinguish you from all the other Anonymouses. (Anonymice?)

Paco2004 · Answer

Hello Anon

I'm a mere English learner from Japan and my role here is rather an asker than an answerer. But if you don't mind, I'd like you to read my ideas about your question.

I take "school" in "go to school" or "church" in "go to church" as an uncountable noun. As you suggested, "school" or "church" in such usage means the activities that would take place in any physical institutions called "schools" or "churches". On the other hand, "bank" in "go to the bank" and "store" in "go to the grocery store" are countable nouns and they are names of physically existent substances (=houses). Why are they modified with THE? I suppose it is because when these expressions were born, there existed only one bank or one grocery store in the area in which common English speakers spent their time every day. Because of this uniqueness, I suppose, saying "go to the bank or the grocery store" should have been more natural to them than saying "go to a bank or a grocery store", when they talked with people living in the same area.

"Hospital" in "be in hospital" or "go to hospital" in British English might be similar to "school" in "go to school" in that the noun means an abstract notion - receiving some medical treatment in this case. Why do you Americans say "the hospital" instead of mere "hospital"? As to this question, a linguist suggests that the use of THE in American English might have come from that the Irish people who immigrated to the United States were hyperconscious about using THE. The Irish people those days were excellent speakers of English because English proficiency was the only means with which they could escape from the Great Famine, but still THE was a thing tough for them to use correctly because their mother tongue Gaelic lacks the word equivalent to English THE. So told [url=http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/26061] the linguist [/url](click here).

Regarding your last question, the phrase "go home" originated in Old English where every nouns retained cases. There some nouns in accusative case were used often as a directional adverb. "Home" in "go home" is a relic of such usage of "home" in accusative case as an adverbial. About this, the Oxford English Dictionary tells as follows.
The accusative "home" retains its original use after a verb of motion, as in "to go or come home" (= L. ire, venire domum); but as this construction is otherwise obsolete in the language, "home" so used is treated practically as an adverb, and has developed purely adverbial uses.

paco

Anonymous · Answer

0 Mr. Paco, do you any good sites where they cover 01u00very extensively02u00 on the usage of article "the" with places that are man-made or otherwise? I do not mean 'the hospital" or "the home" or the like of them but specifically named places. 0-

Paco2004 · Answer

0 01blockquote

01cite10Anonymous12cite10Mr. Paco, do you any good sites where they cover 11u10very extensively12u10 on the usage of article "the" with places that are man-made or otherwise? I do not mean 'the hospital" or "the home" or the like of them but specifically named places. 12blockquote

10[url="05000"]the Article in English[/url]. 02br
00[url=05100] English Article System [/url] 02br
00[url=05200] Use and non-Use of Articles [/url] 02br
00[url=05300]Articles[/url] 02br
02br
00paco 0250hrefhttp://www.fsz.uni-hannover.de/Sprachbereiche/Englisch/dozenten/mcelholm/download/EN_ART.pdf251hrefhttp://lsc-enter.com/pages/page/en/pages/The%20Article%20System%20THE%20GRAMMAR%20BOOK_Larsen.htm232hrefhttp://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslart.html233hrefhttp://www.columbia.edu/cu/ssw/write/handouts/articles-handout.PDF

La Concordia · Answer

Like you, I find the use of article "the" very confusing. I've been searching the internet for nonths, but still can't find an answer. Nouns that don't take an article are"
Names of languages and nationalities such as; Chinese, English,etc. Sports and academic subjets like; biology ets.
For your inquiries, we take don't omit the article "the" in school because school like hospital, although these are not definite places, Americans consider those aa definite placea. It is a hospital mot just a building. We say, go home, go to the house. Home is more likely a place occupied definitely by humans. Which is more pleasing to your ear a "dog home" or a dog house"???

Anonymous · Answer

I'm joining this discussion very late, so I hope someone will read this.  I usually tell students that they have to memorize certain types of places that seem to always take "the" regardless of whether they are definite or indefinite.  I agree with the explanation that this usage probably orginates from times when there was only one hospital or bank in the given area.  As for names of countries, I've noticed that if it is a plural name, they usually take "the" (the United StateS, the PhillippinesS, the MaldiveS).  Also, if there is "of" or an adjectives, then we use "the" (the UNITED Kingdom, the Republic OF China).

Use of article "the" with places

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