"the" or no "the"

[Katherine Kerensky]

Seems like someone has been rather misinformed, good sir.

Wait, I, or our good friend Wounded Melody here?
I doubt that I have been misinformed seeing as I live and have traveled through the place in question...
I'd like to know where they got this idea from, that people are suddenly dropping words...

 

[Daystar Clarion]

It's correct in the USA, but not throughout the whole world XD

in english it is.

Then why do the British say just "hospital"?

Why do Americans pronounce 'T's like 'D's? I.e. baddery instead of battery. It's a regional thing, no need to get hung up on it.

 

[El Poncho]

It's correct in the USA, but not throughout the whole world XD

in english it is.

Then why do the British say just "hospital"?

Because they don't unless they have bad grammar?

 

[DuplicateValue]

I use either, depending on the sentence. Don't ask me why.
For example:

"I'm going to the hospital."
"He needs to go to hospital."

 

[Sebenko]

I always write and say 'the'. Because I'm British, and that means...

Damn, I love our stereotype.

Indeed, out stereotype is of superlative quality in comparison to any other.

Also, I say neither. I use the "t'", mandated by my Yorkshire accent.
So the phrase in this case would be "I'm going t't hospital" (notice that "to the" has been reduced to "t't". This is used in most cases.)

Of course, this would lead to a conversation something like "oh, are ye badly?" "Nah, I'm just going t't visit me uncle Jeff- got in't accident while 'e were down't pit"

Also notice the substitution of "an" for "'t" in the phrase "in to an accident".

 

[Hurr Durr Derp]

I use the. I don't think I've ever heard anyone leave it out in English, but I think it's normal in German. "Ich gehe ins Krankenhaus." My German isn't very good though, so feel free to correct me.

 

[Daveman]

When you speak or write, do you say things like "going to the hospital" or do you say "going to hospital". I know the second is more of an European way of speaking, but I've found that I speak/write that way more and more--something about it is more pleasing to the ear.

Well in that case both are fine but have different meanings. "Going to the hospital" only means literally going there (so you might just be meeting a friend there) but just "going to hospital" means that you are going to see a doctor or similar at the hospital. Nobody would say "going to supermarket" for example.

 

[Riobux]

It's correct in the USA, but not throughout the whole world XD

in english it is.

Then why do the British say just "hospital"?

Because I've never heard anyone here refer to the hospital as just "hospital".

 

[Jaranja]

Seems like someone has been rather misinformed, good sir.

Wait, I, or our good friend Wounded Melody here?
I doubt that I have been misinformed seeing as I live and have traveled through the place in question...
I'd like to know where they got this idea from, that people are suddenly dropping words...

Wounded Melody, of course.

I do say, I had no idea that people are actually abbreviating the way they speak, outside of the cyber world. Quite saddening, really.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I speak English and in English we use 'the' to convey a specific thing. It just dosen't sound right to me to not use it and I've seen plenty of Europeans use 'the' when speaking.

 

[Deadlock Radium]

I say the.

Because I have good grammar.

That. And I'm Norwegian, so no "the" is not used so often here, when people from here write english, they write "the".

 

[Ironic Pirate]

I like the, as it is fun to say.


The the the the... the .... the the the.

 

[DazZ.]

I type differently to how I talk.

I'm lazy with words, and just say "going to hospital" in this example.
Or "Gonna hospital" is how it actually comes out, depending on my company, I can talk properly if I need to, just I don't around friends or whenever I don't need to.

 

[geldonyetich]

I'm pretty sure whoever's in the habit of saying "I'm going to hospital" instead of "I'm going to the hospital" is just being lazy. It's not a matter of nationality (unless perhaps English is a second language for them).

 

[Captain Pancake]

Why would anybody not say "the"? maybe not when typing or writing, but surely when talking.

 

[Soxafloppin]

'The' and allways 'The'.

I honestly don't see the reason to leave it out.

 

[bassdrum]

It's correct in the USA, but not throughout the whole world XD

in english it is.

Then why do the British say just "hospital"?

Because the English obviously don't know how to speak English.

OT: I use 'the', that's how English works (at least here in the US).

 

[Xanadeas]

I've got several British friends and one who is British but lives in Australia... (Not him.) I've not once heard any of them randomly start cutting words out of their sentences. I think you may be a little mistaken on this other culture, OP. They DO say the letter H funny though.

 

[Thisbedutch]

In England it appears to be a northern thing. Where I live it's common to say "I'm going shops" or something similar. It's not lazy, it's just regional dialect.

 

[Caprice0083]

"the", its proper english and doesn't make me sound dumb