🚀 go-pugleaf

(1) I am going to *the* hospital.
(2) I am going to *the* library.
(3) I am going to church.
(4) I am going to school.

** "The" hospital/library, assuming that the context hasn't already explicitly
   defined which one that is, is the one the speaker would be expected 
   ordinarily to go to.  Think of a town with only one hospital and only
   one library.  Of course to the residents they are "the" hospital and
   "the" library.  Non-residents can understand the words that way without
   even knowing anything about the particular hospital or library.  The "the" 
   simply evokes a generalized image of such an institution and the 
   understanding that one such institution is where the speaker would
   naturally go.  Similarly, if I live in a metropolis with fifteen 
   hospitals, if I say "I am going to the hospital" I evoke that same 
   image-- of no particular hospital, but one that happens to be the 
   normal one for me.  Same as "I went to see the dentist" or even
   "I went to the beach."

   If I say, "I'm studying _Hamlet_, so I went to the library and took
   a look at the First Folio," your eyebrows go up, because "the library"
   is construed as a customary, everyday library, not a library that
   necessarily has anything special to offer.

   This image, of an institution that from the speaker's point of view is
   specific but from the listener's point of view has nothing special
   about it, is much the same as what we get from "I am going to church" 
   or "I am going to school," or even "I am going to hospital" in England. 
   I fail to find a logical distinction between the expressions that include
   "the" and those that don't.  I certainly don't think that
   "I'm going to the library" has more to do with the physical structure
   than "I'm going to church" does, though "church" and "school" do have
   functional meanings that "library" and "hospital" do not.  ("There is
   no school in August," "Church is over at noon.")

   And what about "Get me to the church on time?"

_________________________________________________________________________
 Mark L. Levinson           | E-mail:   mark@sd.co.il
 Summit EDA Technologies    | Voice:    +972-9-507102, ext. 230 (work),
 Box 544                    |           +972-9-552411 (home)
 46105 Herzlia, ISRAEL      | Fax:      +972-9-509118
_________________________________________________________________________ 
    "You can't judge right by looking at the wrong."  -- Willie Dixon
_________________________________________________________________________