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I’m always fascinated by the peculiarities of the English language that native speakers don’t ever think twice about.
For example, sometimes we use the word the (aka the definite article) with a noun, and sometimes we don’t. Look at the following pairs of sentences. If you grew up in an English-speaking environment, you’ll intuitively understand the differences in meaning in each pair.
• She took her daughter to school.
• She took cupcakes to the school for Lucy’s birthday party.
• He went to jail for shoplifting.
• He had to go to the jail to get his carry permit.
• Emma went to church Sunday.
• Emma took her food pantry donations to the church.
But honestly now, how bizarre it seems that in one sentence, we say “the school” or “the jail” or “the church,” and in the other, we leave the the out.
The language folks offer numerous usage rules about the definite article, but I don’t understand one word in ten in the rules I find. I just know what sounds right and what sounds wrong. When a phrase or sentence sounds right to a native speaker, it’s described as idiomatic, meaning “peculiar to or characteristic of a given language.”
Sometimes even when something is idiomatic English, it can seem weird when you actually stop to think about it. But it turns out that there is a logic to certain of the usages when you know the trick: Some nouns can be used to identify both a location (school) and an activity (school). When we use the noun to refer to the activity, we omit the the (and the indefinite articles a and an as well).
It’s actually remarkable how many other nouns work with this leave-out-the-article pattern. We say “She’s in class” and it doesn’t mean the same thing as “she’s in the class.” We say “Jason’s at camp” and it doesn’t mean the same thing as “Jason’s at a camp.” We say “Kirk’s at breakfast” and it doesn’t mean the same thing as “Kirk’s at the breakfast.”
Have you noticed that in these examples, the noun we’re using without the article refers to an activity that requires certain stereotypical behavior, behavior that’s different from our normal behavior? Church, school, class, camp, jail...
There are many other situations where nouns don’t require an article; while they’re no-brainers for a native speaker, they make English difficult for non-native speakers to master. In a technical book I worked on recently, for example, the author wrote, “In the Chapter 12...” A native speaker would know that you’d simply say “In Chapter 12...”
The editor of that technical book scolded the author in a marginal note: “The content of this chapter looks good, but I am disappointed by the standard of English. Once again, the words a, an, and the are semi-randomly used or not used....Please make sure you submit only well-formed English. I really should not have to be saying this at such a late point in the project.”
I felt truly sorry for the author, who responded: “As hard as I may, English is not my native language, and articles are its particularly difficult aspect.”
Here’s your homework assignment: See how many instances of bare singular nominals you can spot this week. You say you don’t know what a bare singular nominal is? That’s what you call those singular nouns that don’t have an article. Now that you know the term, you can use it to amaze your friends at dinner. (Oh my, I just gave you a freebie.)
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