Newsgroups: sci.lang
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news.mathworks.com!udel!gatech!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!malgudi.oar.net!chemabs!rmt51
From: rturkel@cas.org (Rick Turkel)
Subject: Re: "I'm going to the home"?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Message-ID: <1995Mar2.230837.1170@chemabs.uucp>
Originator: rmt51@rmt51mws
Sender: Rick Turkel (rturkel@cas.org)
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Organization: S.W.I.G
References: <HCANNON.191.2F53BDBD@macalstr.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 23:08:37 GMT
Lines: 44


In article <HCANNON.191.2F53BDBD@macalstr.edu>,  <HCANNON@macalstr.edu> wrote:
>An oddity I've noticed in English --
>
>I'm going to the hospital.
>I'm going to the Sears Tower.
>I'm going to work.
>I'm going to Chicago.
>I'm going home.
>I'm going downtown.
>
>
>WHY????

Let's start with the easy ones, the last two.  "Home" and "downtown" are
functioning as adverbs here, so there's no reason to even think that
there should be a "the" or a "to" inserted.

"Work" and "Chicago" are definite in and of themselves (at least as far
as a specific person's workplace is concerned), so they also don't need
a "the" - we never say "the Chicago" in any context (unless "Chicago" is
functioning as an adjective, i.e., the Chicago skyline, where "the"
doesn't relate to "Chicago" but rather to "skyline").

The first two examples need the "the" to indicate that it is a specific
hospital or tower that you're going to (although the British say, "I'm
going to hospital.")

>Ok, sorry for that outburst.  This has been keeping me up.  I can't figure out
>why some destinations require "to the", some "to" and some neither.  Any
>ideas? Or answers?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Heather.
>

You're welcome, although this kind of question should properly be posted
to alt.usage.english, not here.
-- 
Rick Turkel         (___  _____  _  _  _  _  __     _  ___   _   _  _  ___
rturkel@freenet.columbus)oh.us|   |  \  )  |/  \     |    |   |   \__)    |
rturkel@cas.org        /      |  _| __)/   | ___)    | ___|_  |  _(  \    |
Rich or poor, it's good to have money.  Ko rano rani | u jamu pada.
