Aricle The /emploi

Aricle The /emploi
Message de kazan posté le 01-07-2014 à 07:06:20 (S | E | F)
Hello,

I went over several courses, but, simple and dumb as it might seem, I can't figure out why we can't say: "I'll go to swimming pool next Monday. " the same way we say " I'll go to hospital since I broke my arm."
From what I understand, we can leave out "the" when we refer to general ideas. So why don't we say go to swimming pool? We don't know yet which swimming pool we'll go to.
Many thanks in advance.
Pascal

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Modifié par lucile83 le 01-07-2014 07:59

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Réponse: Aricle The /emploi de gerondif, postée le 01-07-2014 à 09:40:10 (S | E)
Hello,
the being the short form of this, we normally say:
a)I am going to the cinema, to the swimming-pool, to the supermarket, etc, because 1) it is definite, 2) you could show it, point to it....3) it is a location
b) a few examples where you refer to an institution,a situation more than a pure location: (Berland Delepine says: dans un sens abstrait pour désigner l'activité qui y est normalement associée)
I am going to school, to work, to prison, to bed, to church
c) I am going* * home (no to, no the!)

I vaguely remember that with hospital, there is a difference :
page 246, §582 Berland Delépine:
The wounded were taken to hospital (pour y recevoir des soins)
We must go to the hospital to see old Mrs Jones on Saturday (pour rendre visite à une malade: simple complément de lieu)

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Réponse: Aricle The /emploi de kazan, postée le 01-07-2014 à 10:10:58 (S | E)
Gerondif, I kind of read a lot of posts on these forum ( there's always a good piece of information to grab) and I noticed you help a lot those struggling with grammar difficulties, like myself.
Your give concise and precious advice, which is really helpful. Keep up the good work!

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Réponse: Aricle The /emploi de gerondif, postée le 01-07-2014 à 13:47:05 (S | E)
Thank you, Elia!

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Réponse: Aricle The /emploi de kazan, postée le 01-07-2014 à 13:53:49 (S | E)
I'm sorry but I'm not the famous Greek director. Sorry to disappoint . Instead, I got my nickname from Japanese Language (volcano).

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Modifié par kazan le 01-07-2014 13:56

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Réponse: Aricle The /emploi de gerondif, postée le 01-07-2014 à 14:05:24 (S | E)
Hello,Kazan!
I'm so disappointed!
Concerning "the",the same thing would happen with "school":
I am at * school as a pupil, as a teacher.
But if a door is left open and a dog sneaks in, you will say:
There is a dog in the school (location)
"There is a dog at * school" would mean that the animal is sitting at his desk, listening to a lesson by Here4U for instance, with his (I can't use "its" since it is now a human animal!)(or her, let's not be male chauvinists) glasses on his nose,reading Shakespeare and making a difference between the lark and the nightingale !

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Réponse: Aricle The /emploi de violet91, postée le 01-07-2014 à 14:53:37 (S | E)
Hello kazan and thank you for teaching us a Japanese word which is nice ! True if you had something in common with great Elia ...that would 'arrange ' us marvellously !
On the whole , you use the definite article 'the ' when you speak of somebody or something in particular as defined you know or refer to .
The French ( = team) are doing well at football so far . What about the Germans ?

Therefore , when you do not need to precise and mean somebody or something in general ( a bit like an entire category of , or something purely abstract like intelligence , love , life , death ...) no article !
French people are used to drinking coffee when British people drink tea mostly .
Trees and animals are to be respected and protected .
Stupidity is a shame and can spoil relationships.

Hello gérondif ! Would you be referring to one of my recent quotes with the lark and the nightingale ?! So beautiful !
Did you know I had three special visitors in the course of my 'lifelong' teaching ? !! 1 ) A nice black dog who ( I love dogs !) had come up to my classroom thanks to the fire exit stairs ? I used to teach with my door open ! She liked our company and the language for a short while
2 ) A puppy (pitsbull ) who hadn't really enjoyed being squeezed all day ( last period) in a girl's schoolbag !! He had been 'picked up ' in the street, all on his own, poor soul ...; that was a lovely moment of complicity between pupils and teacher . The two went to the vet's after school , after debating about his future . ( safe , mind you )
3 ) A pretty ginger cat ,( belonging to someone in the vicinity ) who really seemed charmed by the music of English and our excitement . Can you imagine a whole class + teacher sharing such a secret ? The lesson went on very quietly .

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Réponse: Aricle The /emploi de kazan, postée le 02-07-2014 à 09:51:01 (S | E)
Thanks again to you all You definitely rock!
When I come upon these little problems ( in this case "the"), I feel stupid not to know the answer. Considering that my wildest dream would be to teach English someday, I still have a long way to go.
By the way Eigo ( pronounced é- go) is the Japanese word for English.
See you

Pascal

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Réponse: Aricle The /emploi de violet91, postée le 02-07-2014 à 14:50:27 (S | E)

Many thanks for the word and how to pronounce it ! You already have a good reflex for teaching ! Your English seems rather fluent , so why not do English teaching studies ?
I love foreign languages ....all the best to you . You certainly deserve it .

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