Omission of definite article

[Mark Mandel]

Note that all of these are institutions, and the phrase refers to specific
type of assocation with them. When someone's sick they are "in hospital"
(UK) or "in the hospital" (usual US); but if you go to visit them there you
are "at the hospital", and if there's a call for the patient's doctor, it's
"Is Dr. ___ in the hospital?"

We use the same construction in "in college" and "in school", and I believe
in the UK they say "in (or at?) university".

Mark Mandel

On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 5:57 PM, Kelli Slimp <kellislimp at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks, Jonathan. That's sort of what I had discovered as well. I did a
> little assignment on that subject, and your summary is in keeping with my
> questionnaire's findings.
>
> ks
>
> On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 10:53 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Omission of definite article
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Welcome, Kelli. And yes, some have noticed.
> >
> > I can't say just when I began to note the replacement of "in the
> hospital"
> > by "in hospital" on cable news, but it's been a few years.  "In future"
> may
> > be more frequent. Yet "out of hospital" still sounds very UK.
> >
> > The changeover is not very far advanced, though, even among the
> chattering
> > classes, and I'd still be surprised to hear anyone beyond the media or
> > lacking a strong British-Irish connection omit the article.
> >
> > I almost said "Anglo-Irish," which sounds fine to me, but I didn't want
> to
> > offend any Scots, Welsh, or Manx readers, for example.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 5:23 PM, Kelli Slimp <kellislimp at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Kelli Slimp <kellislimp at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Omission of definite article
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Hi all!
> > >
> > > I'm a M.Phil student of Linguistics at Trinity College Dublin and just
> > > joined the list serve a few days ago.
> > >
> > > It's been entertaining following the various conversations, and I'd
> love
> > to
> > > hear your feedback on a little question of my own...
> > >
> > > I've noticed that the British and Irish press, as well as speakers in
> > > casual
> > > conversation, use the phrase "in hospital," effectively omitting the
> > > definite article, much the way we would say someone is "in prison" or
> "in
> > > jail," while Americans would more generally say someone is "in
> > > *the*hospital.
> > >
> > > Is the US press beginning to drop "the" as well? What about citizens in
> > > casual speech? What have you all noticed?
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance for your musings.
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > >
> > > Kelli Slimp
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> >
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> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
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>
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