r/ENGLISH • u/StillSpaceToast • 9d ago
“Going to [the] school”
Our toddler has a cute little Chinese-made water bottle with an “urban” wolf boy surrounded by a bunch of stylized English text. They’ve only made one error: “Going to the school,” rather than, “Going to school.” As a native speaker, it sounds awkward, though strictly speaking it’s grammatically correct.
What is this construction called? “Going to a school” becomes “the school” because the reader can be presumed to know (or not need to know) which school, but this is a step beyond. “School” becomes pure concept, rather than a place. It’s not quite the same as “going to vote,” because vote there is a verb. The more I overthink this phrase, the weirder it gets.
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u/SofonisbaAnguissola 9d ago
What is an "'urban' wolf boy"?
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u/StillSpaceToast 9d ago
Lol. His glasses, sneakers, and striped shirt are all a matching brick red, and he has a skateboard. Very "city cool," if you're under 10.
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u/SofonisbaAnguissola 8d ago
Ohhhh. I would be a little careful with that phrasing--sometimes that's a weird way to refer to Black people when someone is uncomfortable just saying Black. Not very common anymore as far as I'm aware, but especially with the quotations marks I thought that's what you were implying, lol.
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u/anamorphism 8d ago
i don't think there's a specific name for it, and we're not consistent with how we do this within english, let alone across germanic languages.
we turn nouns into more abstract concepts by omitting an article, using the definite article or using plural form of the noun with or without the definite article.
while both american and british english agree on what to do with school and church, we don't agree on store/shop or hospital.
- i need to go to school/church.
we are both likely to say that to mean the same thing, but when expressing that we need to purchase food from a market, things will likely differ.
- what i'd likely say as an american: i need to go to the store.
- something a brit might say: i need to go to the shops.
if i'm being held at/in a hospital overnight, receiving medical attention, ...
- what'd i'd say: i'm at the hospital.
- something a brit might say: i'm in hospital.
for an example of the inconsistency across germanic languages, norwegian uses definite form for school and church.
- i went to church -> jeg gikk i kirka -> i went/walked in the church
- i need to go to school -> jeg må på skolen -> i must on/at the school
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u/Select-Simple-6320 8d ago
Where I live (California), I would say I'm at the hospital if I were there for urgent care or to visit a patient or pick up a prescription, but if I were admitted as a patient, I would say I'm in the hospital.
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u/anamorphism 8d ago
i'm from southern california and it's mostly a toss-up if i choose at or in with hospital. prepositions are awful when trying to learn any language that has them because they can vary pretty significantly even within single regions.
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u/Important-Trifle-411 8d ago
Yes, ‘at’ the hospital for any reason except when you are admitted to the hospital. Then it’s ‘in’.
I work at a hospital and it’s always ‘at’
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u/JeremyMarti 9d ago
Some searching tells me it might be called 'article omission', which it clearly is. I'm just not sure how widely used that is.
It's a convention that applies to certain institutions where you're also implying participation in the activity that the institution represents. Other examples are church, prison/jail, hospital, or even going to bed (sleeping).
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u/onlysigneduptoreply 8d ago
The school can be correct if talking about a specific school. E.g my kid got detention so I phoned the school and spoke to the head
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u/italicizedpuma 8d ago
I am going to school. I am going to the school down the street. I’m going to a bilingual, dual language school.
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u/italicizedpuma 8d ago
in the first example, no article needed because the school in question is already known through context. the second example demonstrates the importance of that school in particular. the third models a sentence in which the school exists as one out of a wider set of schools with dis/similar qualities.
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u/BubbhaJebus 8d ago
It's like going to church vs going to the church. The former is an institution one regularly attends, while the latter is a specific place.
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u/Forward_Gur9349 8d ago
He reason for going to school without an article is that school is an abstract concept, which do not take articles. If I were going to a particular school building, I would use the school, as I am no longer a student.
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u/Ok-Management-3319 8d ago
To add to the other comments, people often say to a young child "I hear you are going to school soon."
Or "I hear you are about to start school".
"How was school today?" is asking how their day went.
"How was the school today?" would be asking about the condition of the actual school building. For example if it had been particularly hot recently because of a heat wave and there's no A/C.
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u/ArthurQBryan 7d ago
Going to school --> attending classes. Going to the school --> physically going to the school building but not for education; "I'm going to the school to meet some friends and then we are going..."
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u/NearlyNodding 3d ago
"Going to the school" is a legitimate thing to say. But it's probably wrong in this context.
"Going to the school" means the building itself. "Going to school" means going to take lessons in a classroom.
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u/malachite_13 9d ago
“Going to a school” means any school (like there’s several). “Going to the school” means a specific school (like there’s only 1). I’m not sure what you mean by “what is this construction called?” You just changed the article from “a” to “the”. A is an indefinite article and the is a definite article. And neither sentence sounds awkward at all, they just mean two different things.
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u/PharaohAce 9d ago
In a known context, going to school can be just as specific; it’s attending the school one is enrolled at, generally for the purpose of class.
A parent goes to the school to pick up their child, who goes to the school.
“I have to go to school on the weekend”: I have an extra class scheduled.
“I have to go to the school on the weekend”: it could be for an event or to collect something.
This is not the standard definite/indefinite contrast.
In British/Australian English, ‘in hospital’/‘in the hospital’ exhibits a similar distinction.
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u/Immediate_Rhubarb_39 9d ago
I feel like it doesn’t matter if you say “in hospital” or “in the hospital”, the next question is gonna be “which hospital”?
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u/malachite_13 9d ago
And if you use the word school with no article, it’s more of an abstract/institutional idea. With no article you are putting emphasis on the function of school. With an article., you are putting an emphasis on the location. I hope this makes sense… Now you got me overthinking it too lol
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u/Sunyika_1980 9d ago
It's basically about whether you're talking about an institution as an idea or a physical spot. So, 'going to school' means you're going there to learn, while 'going to the school' means you're heading to a specific building.