I'm an American citizen and I speak US English, but I prefer to use a few Britishisms because they make more sense. Saying someone is "in hospital" is identical in construction to saying "in school" or "in church". I also prefer saying "in future" rather than "in the future".
In all of these phrases, not using the definite article makes the phrase more generalized. Saying one is "in the hospital" suggests a particular hospital, while "in hospital" simply means one is receiving treatment but the specific hospital isn't relevant.
Do they also go "to swimming pool", or "to grocery store", or even "to pharmacy"? Aren't those places also more about the activity performed, or what you get there, rather than the specific location?
School and church are institutions of regularly recurring behaviors, which are more about a state of mind than any place whatsoever, particular or otherwise. While unusual, you could have a church service in a parking lot, or any place or building. And some children regularly find themselves "in school" in their own living rooms.
A hospital is a particular type of place. Depending on your physical location, you either are in a hospital, or you are not in a hospital. Your state of mind or activity doesn't factor into it. You could receive exactly the same kind of service somewhere else, without being in a hospital. And you can be in a hospital, without receiving any kind of service at all.
[ - ] HughBriss 1 point 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 13:16:39 ago (+1/-0)
Do they also go "to swimming pool", or "to grocery store", or even "to pharmacy"?
Wouldn't one say they "went swimming" or "went grocery shopping"? For the latter, in British English one would say "went to the chemists'" (although I would never say that because no one in the US would understand it).
I see your point, however, and I tend to agree. English tends to be much more specific than, say, Spanish, which can be very ambiguous (although it's excellent for poetry), but sometimes it just comes down to a matter of preference. I know that's a cop-out, but it's the best argument I can make without splitting hairs.
One could say it that way, but swimming and shopping are verbs. Is hospital a verb in that context? Do they go hospitalling?
I'd say the US way is more... consistent, if nothing else. Probably a result of many non-English speakers being among the early immigration waves, having to learn the language, and consequently morphing it as they applied simple rules over obscure conventions.
In this context, swimming and shopping would be considered present participles and function like adjectives. Used differently, they would be gerunds, which function like nouns and can be the direct object of a transitive verb, like in "I enjoy swimming" or "I find shopping to be time consuming". I've never heard hospital used as a verb, only as a noun.
English usage does tend to be consistent in many ways. I think a lot of that has to do with Victorian obsessiveness with the language, which resulted in one of the greatest British achievements, the Oxford English Dictionary.
Well, there we go splitting hairs. I should not have invoked the v-word. In an effort to reduce further hair splitting:
Swimming and shopping are words that refer to actions. They do not refer to places. Hospital is not an action. It is a place. Which is why "hospitalling" doesn't make sense at all, and why you bringing up "went swimming" and "went grocery shopping" doesn't really have any bearing on the previous topic. We're not talking about "went schooling" or "went churching" either, after all.
[ - ] dulcima [op] 1 point 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 11:25:50 ago (+2/-1)
This in hospital/the hospital dispute is hilarious. I've been feeling low and every time I see an American grumpily complaining about it made me chuckle.
OH NO Amricans and Austrialians are talking to one another we better come up with a way to divide them and keep them from liking each other before they realize ITS THE JEWS.
[ - ] HughBriss 1 point 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 12:03:23 ago (+1/-0)
The vacation/holiday controversy (which you probably pronounce as conTROversy) is little more than a pet peeve. Both terms are accurate enough. Your use of "vacate" in that context is correct, but you're likely aware of the etymology of the word and its cognate with the French "vacances". "Vacate" in a general sense simply means to make void, annul, or release from obligation.
[ - ] HughBriss 1 point 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 12:42:59 ago (+1/-0)*
Yeah, too true. Unfortunately, I don't do banter very well. I tend to go more for drollery. I'll take a few deep breaths, crack open a beer, and ease up.
By the way, I''m with you on travelling vs. traveling. That irks me more than it should. I think that spelling has to do with Theodore Roosevelt's campaign to modernize American spelling. He was the one who inflicted the abomination "thru" on the world. I've done some technical editing for a living in the past, and when I come across old manuals that needed updating that have that monstrous word, it makes me grimace.
[ + ] HughBriss
[ - ] HughBriss 3 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 11:51:14 ago (+3/-0)
In all of these phrases, not using the definite article makes the phrase more generalized. Saying one is "in the hospital" suggests a particular hospital, while "in hospital" simply means one is receiving treatment but the specific hospital isn't relevant.
[ + ] GloryBeckons
[ - ] GloryBeckons 4 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 13:07:53 ago (+4/-0)
School and church are institutions of regularly recurring behaviors, which are more about a state of mind than any place whatsoever, particular or otherwise. While unusual, you could have a church service in a parking lot, or any place or building. And some children regularly find themselves "in school" in their own living rooms.
A hospital is a particular type of place. Depending on your physical location, you either are in a hospital, or you are not in a hospital. Your state of mind or activity doesn't factor into it. You could receive exactly the same kind of service somewhere else, without being in a hospital. And you can be in a hospital, without receiving any kind of service at all.
[ + ] HughBriss
[ - ] HughBriss 1 point 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 13:16:39 ago (+1/-0)
Wouldn't one say they "went swimming" or "went grocery shopping"? For the latter, in British English one would say "went to the chemists'" (although I would never say that because no one in the US would understand it).
I see your point, however, and I tend to agree. English tends to be much more specific than, say, Spanish, which can be very ambiguous (although it's excellent for poetry), but sometimes it just comes down to a matter of preference. I know that's a cop-out, but it's the best argument I can make without splitting hairs.
[ + ] GloryBeckons
[ - ] GloryBeckons 2 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 13:33:57 ago (+2/-0)
I'd say the US way is more... consistent, if nothing else. Probably a result of many non-English speakers being among the early immigration waves, having to learn the language, and consequently morphing it as they applied simple rules over obscure conventions.
[ + ] HughBriss
[ - ] HughBriss 0 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 13:47:17 ago (+0/-0)
English usage does tend to be consistent in many ways. I think a lot of that has to do with Victorian obsessiveness with the language, which resulted in one of the greatest British achievements, the Oxford English Dictionary.
[ + ] GloryBeckons
[ - ] GloryBeckons 2 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 14:04:59 ago (+2/-0)
Swimming and shopping are words that refer to actions. They do not refer to places. Hospital is not an action. It is a place. Which is why "hospitalling" doesn't make sense at all, and why you bringing up "went swimming" and "went grocery shopping" doesn't really have any bearing on the previous topic. We're not talking about "went schooling" or "went churching" either, after all.
[ + ] HughBriss
[ - ] HughBriss 1 point 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 14:20:51 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] 1Icemonkey
[ - ] 1Icemonkey 2 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 12:37:06 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] OhBubba
[ - ] OhBubba 1 point 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 13:17:49 ago (+1/-0)
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[ + ] TheViciousMrPim
[ - ] TheViciousMrPim 0 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 11:23:56 ago (+0/-0)
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[ + ] bastardo
[ - ] bastardo 0 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 11:15:38 ago (+1/-1)
[ + ] dulcima
[ - ] dulcima [op] 1 point 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 11:25:50 ago (+2/-1)
I never even thought about it before.
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[ - ] Thisismyaccount 2 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 11:21:09 ago (+3/-1)
[ + ] Monica
[ - ] Monica 2 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 11:42:35 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] 1Icemonkey
[ - ] 1Icemonkey 2 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 12:38:53 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] dulcima
[ - ] dulcima [op] 1 point 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 11:23:13 ago (+2/-1)
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[ - ] deleted 0 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 13:36:57 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] HughBriss
[ - ] HughBriss 1 point 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 12:03:23 ago (+1/-0)
End of pedantic comment.
[ + ] Deleted
[ - ] deleted 1 point 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 12:20:16 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] HughBriss
[ - ] HughBriss 1 point 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 12:42:59 ago (+1/-0)*
By the way, I''m with you on travelling vs. traveling. That irks me more than it should. I think that spelling has to do with Theodore Roosevelt's campaign to modernize American spelling. He was the one who inflicted the abomination "thru" on the world. I've done some technical editing for a living in the past, and when I come across old manuals that needed updating that have that monstrous word, it makes me grimace.
[ + ] bastardo
[ - ] bastardo 0 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 11:20:41 ago (+1/-1)
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[ + ] bastardo
[ - ] bastardo -1 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 11:25:56 ago (+0/-1)
[ + ] Deleted
[ - ] deleted -2 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 11:30:11 ago (+0/-2)
[ + ] bastardo
[ - ] bastardo 0 points 3.8 yearsAug 22, 2021 11:31:51 ago (+0/-0)