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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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<...an "open door policy.">
In this instance "open door" is an adjective modifying policy. As such it wouldn't require an article, but should have a hyphen: open-door policy.
Back to comparing Brit-vs.-US article usage: Here in the US we speak of a shop located "on Main Street." I believe the UK version would include the definite article: "on the High Street." I've heard people, both in Canada and the UK, speak of going to University. Why is it that USns go to college, or to a university?
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old hand
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old hand
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It sounds so precious to hear Britishers talking about going to hospital
Ich bin kein Britischer, so please tell me which of the following definitions you had in mind when describing my normal usage as "precious", my preciousss.
1 : of great value or high price
2 : highly esteemed or cherished
3 : excessively refined : AFFECTED
4 : GREAT, THOROUGHGOING *precious scoundrel*
–preŁciousŁness noun
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old hand
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old hand
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The usage that confounds me is the So Cal habit of referring to the freeways as "The Five" or "The 405" or whatever. Maybe it's just because I grew up in an area with only about four major freeways, but the definite article always sounds goofy to me. 
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member
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It sounds so precious to hear Britishers talking about going to hospital. Here in the USA we would say we're going "to the hospital."
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But that would entirely depend.....
If I were talking about someone who was ill, I'd say that they had to go to hospital to get it sorted out.
But if I were talking to one of my medic friends about what time their shift started or asking what time someone's appointment was, I'd ask them what time they had to be at *the* hospital.
I'd guess that in the first case that would be because I wasn't necessarily sure which hospital was being talked about. Whereas in the second I'd be referring to a very specific hospital.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
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From American Heritage:
1. Of high cost or worth; valuable. 2. Highly esteemed; cherished. 3. Dear; beloved. 4. Affectedly dainty or overrefined: precious mannerisms. 5. Informal Thoroughgoing; unmitigated: a precious mess.
Precious = dear
That's how I meant it. It sounds dear to my ear to hear a Britisher say that someone has gone "to hospital." Just plain dear, my dear.
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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talking about someone who was ill, I'd say that they had to go to hospital
talking to one of my medic friends about what time their shift started or asking what time someone's appointment was, I'd ask them what time they had to be at *the* hospital.
This all makes sense. Another USn way of saying, "I was in hospital", (and the one saying that knows which hospital he was in) would be "I was hospitalized". Probably I'd advise someone attempting to learn the vagaries of English to follow the Commonwealth usage. But how far do you carry it? The summer I worked at Arlington Park Race Track I would speak of "going to the track every day" but this is the same idiom a racing fan would have used. Of course, in both cases, a particular track was meant, so maybe it isn't that far from the Common(wealth) usage.
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'hospitalized' isn't one I really come across - how would you use it?
For me, if someone went to hospital and they decided to keep them in, I'd say they'd 'been admitted' or 'been kept in overnight.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Amazing how I can wake up and the first thing I think of is the article thread here.
I was thinking:
We would say in the USA, "I'm going to college," but we'd also say "I'm going to the university." We would say we were going to a specific college: "I'm going to the college in Roanoke." But we'd also say, "I'm going to college in Roanoke." We wouldn't say "I'm going to university" as the Britishers do. And we'd say, "I'm going to school." And we'd say, "I'm getting an education." But we wouldn't say, "I'm getting education." And we wouldn't say, "I'm getting a learning," or even "I'm getting learning." We might say, "I'm increasing learning in English," and "I'm learning English" would be possible, too, with a slightly different meaning.
I have a new friend from Macedonia who is learning English. Can you imagine explaining the above examples to her? And they're just the tip of the American English article ice berg.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have a new friend from Macedonia who is learning English. Can you imagine explaining the above examples to her?
I think this was the point of the thread. When do we use articles and when don't we? The Russian language has no articles, for example. Portuguese has the same ones we do, but they're used differently in that language. Cross-street and open-door aren't really to the point here, one being a noun and the other an adjective. [/clarification]
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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'hospitalized' isn't one I really come across - how would you use it?
Pretty much just as you would say, "I was in hospital for three weeks with an overwrought ironical gland", you would say, "I was hospitalized for three weeks with an overwrought ironical gland".
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