Quick question for our British friends.

[ekster]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

You could always use French instead.

Doesn't help. Then it becomes Quebec's French vs France's French. The difference is even bigger there.
We're just SOL here.

But I guess it isn't any better in the UK, when it comes to English from the Irish and Scots. And then there are the Aussies and the Kiwis (Not sure if their English sounds different to each others or not)... We really need a more universal English.

[ekster]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

So if any hospital will do "to hospital", if a specific hospital "to the hospital".

Does that mean 'to a' like in "get him to a hospital" is not used at all?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ekster

We really need a more universal English.

There have been lots of attempts at a simplified universal English. Basic English, Nuclear English, Threshold Level English, Globish, and Basic Global English.

Basic Global English looks like a good system, and all the information about it is freely available, unlike many of the other systems.

http://www.basicglobalenglish.com/

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ekster

Does that mean 'to a' like in "get him to a hospital" is not used at all?

You could say "we've got to get him to a hospital", but "we've got to get him to hospital" sounds more natural. And no, I can't explain why .

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

I would say "got to get him down the hospital" or to be more precise "gorra get im daahn thee ozzy". But I would also say both "I've been in hospital" and "I've been in thee ozzy" depending on circumstances. But I would never say "I've been in ozzy" because then people might think I'd been to Australia.

Come on, we both know it's not "got to get him down the hospital"

It's "got to get him down <<"The" with a nearly silent T silent h silent e slight pause and very small nod of the head>> hospital"

Although why no one outside of Yorkshire can pronounce "the" properly is beyond me (Or why they think it's t')

[crich70]

Originally Posted by ekster

Couldn't you folks just get along and stick with one version of English? You guys are making it really hard for Canadians as we have to deal with both versions every damn day.

Darn you caught us. It's an English/American plot against our French Canadian friends.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by MikeB1972

Come on, we both know it's not "got to get him down the hospital"

It's "got to get him down <<"The" with a nearly silent T silent h silent e slight pause and very small nod of the head>> hospital"

Although why no one outside of Yorkshire can pronounce "the" properly is beyond me (Or why they think it's t')

Probably because of Monty Python or Ripping Yarns.

"Gerrim thospital" would also work, as would "gerrim tozzy" The first has a "the", the second has a "to".

[Mr Whippy]

It depends on whether you ask about British English or English English.

I'm British but not English -I'm from Scotland- and I would probably say first, 'He's gone to the hospital'. I could also say 'He's gone to hospital', but that's not a likely way of speaking for me. It all depends on so many things.

There are many varieties of English round the world. All are correct in context. All.

There is a huge confusion about British and English. They don't have to mean identically the same thing, tho' many English people don't know this, even if they have been British since 1603, or if you wish, since 1707. They refer to themselves as English, and wrongly speak of the English Queen, English tea and so on. All wrong.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

IThere is a huge confusion about British and English. They don't have to mean identically the same thing, tho' many English people don't know this

It's very easy. If something goes right, it's "another triumph for Great Britain". If it goes wrong, it's "England loses again."

[VydorScope]

Pretty sure the rule of thumb here in America is in the specificity. If you say "I am going to THE hospital" you are implying a specific one. If you say "I am going to A hostile" you are think of the general category "hospital."

Same for other nouns, but the "church" one is a bit trickier because church can be a verb or a noun.

[HarryT]

Church can be used as a verb? Can you give an example?

[dadioflex]

Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

It depends on whether you ask about British English or English English.

I'm British but not English -I'm from Scotland- and I would probably say first, 'He's gone to the hospital'. I could also say 'He's gone to hospital', but that's not a likely way of speaking for me. It all depends on so many things.

I'm from Norn Ireland and everyone I know generally says "the hospital" eg "I'm going to put you in the hospital" or "Keep talking if you want to wake up in the hospital".

I may be hanging around with a bad crowd.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Church can be used as a verb? Can you give an example?

I have heard, and read, things like "We are having church here"

I never heard it used as a verb till I moved out of the North Eastern section of the US, but I hear it fairly regularly since then.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

I have heard, and read, things like "We are having church here"

I never heard it used as a verb till I moved out of the North Eastern section of the US, but I hear it fairly regularly since then.

That's not a verb, any more than "we are having dinner here" makes "dinner" a verb; it's a noun.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's not a verb, any more than "we are having dinner here" makes "dinner" a verb; it's a noun.

Not sure I agree, but I am not nor wish to claim to be an expert and accept the possibility of being wrong. Having is not a complete verb, it needs a complement to finish the action, and in this case its church.