Unless it’s “the school” as it has come to be known where only whakos who think they are going to the school are going.
American education by any chance?[/quote]
Well, only grad school. Before coming to the US for grad school, she had never left Taiwan.
Did you guys go to school on THE short bus?
I went to school on drugs; that’s why I listen to cutting edge dance music rather than GunznRozez.
I’m going to school you in the proper use of grammar.
Grammar is mostly something we make up after the fact, to try to explain why we say what we say. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it doesn’t. In this case, what we actually say is “I’m going to school.” We can argue six ways to Sunday as to why, but there it is. If grammar helps us comprehend this, fine. If not, I’d take real life over theory.
Fortunately, if they get it wrong and add “the,” nothing bad will happen.
I’m American, so I graduated college.
[quote=“Screaming Jesus”]
I’m American, so I graduated college.[/quote]
Yup. I’m American too. When I was going to THE university, I never had to stay in THE hospital. But at that time I was going to college.
Shucks, after four pages of this, can just anybody jump in/on?
In case of a tornado, it’s safer to stay in the school.
If it’s a choice between a job or an education, I’d say stay in school.
Hey! This be fun!
OOC
Let them publish the book with the obvious mistake in it, then give us a copy and let us go down to the Ministry of Education and have a little chat with these so-called “English experts” (none of which, I will mention again, is a native speaker) and point out their egregious mistake. Then go to whoever their superior is in the government and point out how this committee is making these kinds of mistakes, and in the future should include native speaking “experts” as well … and if that doesn’t work, take it to the “Apple Daily” … 
Well we may not all agree on the answer, but nobody can accuse forumosans of not giving the original poster his/her money’s worth in terms of feedback what what? It is indeed a charitable group we are. 
[quote=“Chris”][quote=“Screaming Jesus”]
I’m American, so I graduated college.[/quote]
Yup. I’m American too. When I was going to THE university, I never had to stay in THE hospital. But at that time I was going to college.[/quote]
gradate university/graduate college same difference.
Neither need ‘the’ in the original sentence. I don’t see your point in mentioning it.
I go to school.
I’m going to college.
I went to university.
She had to go to THE post office.
We are going to go to THE department store.
Most single countable nouns need the, some do not. The explanation of the reasons why those that don’t is much more complicated than just learning a list. Taiwanese like lists anyway.
home
work
school
college
university
church
hospital
prison
market
That would cover students in most situations at most levels.
The problem we face here in Taiwan is that the ‘experts’ think that they can simplify the language, but end up making it more complicated, or introducing subtle nuances that they can’t even see.
So “I’m going to the school.” matches “I’m going to the post office.” the grammar is simpler, and the change is slight. This is ‘good enough English’.
I advised OP to “let it slide” because starting a crusade for authentic English is a road to misery. I’ve been there, and have learnt that it is better to lose the small battles, and concentrate on the big ones. e.g. "Is this a ball? “Yes, this is a ball.” If students are producing that, do you think that anyone is going to be surprised if they are also saying “I’m going to the school.”
I’m in this thread because I get my kicks from arguing grammar, and as Hobbes said we got our money’s worth on this one.
GG everybody
Quick, somebody start a new thread.
Edit: added some more to the list
I think you mean “on the drugs”. 
Sorry about that. Guess I was in high emotions and didn’t have my brain attached to my typing hands. 
Yes, obviously there’s more than one kid. Won’t happen again. 
oZzo
I’m an American also but I would never say this sentence. I would say “I graduated from college.” Athough, if I used a different verb I would say “I finished college.” This shows you how arbitrary English usage really is.
Let’s keep in mind that when “incorrect” grammar becomes so commonplace that it is more commonly used than the “correct” grammar, it becomes correct in many cases, and the dictionaries and books will change along with it. Grammatical rules and usage are not stagnant. I believe the original topic of this thread (‘going to school’) may be one of these cases.
First, I’d like to say that I’m shocked that more than 10 people have read this, no less replied. My posts usually deal with music that nobody’s interested in.
Ok, so thanks for all the input. I mean WOW. I know some of you, as someone mentioned, just like to argue grammar, but thanks anyway.
After reading all the replies, it got me thinking. As bob mentioned, language is not math. Language does have a set of rules, but those rules change over time. What’s language for? Communication, right? So as long as our message is passed and understood, then technically nothing can be wrong. Of course, when it comes to books and teaching, this doesn’t apply. There is right and wrong. But as mentioned, rules change. I haven’t actually done so, but open a dictionary from 20 or more years ago and see what’s in (or not in) there. Compare it to a new 2004 (or 2005) dictionary and note the differences. My guess is that some things that weren’t accepted 20+ years ago are accepted now. At one point in time (in this examples given context) “the school” was most likely correct, but now, as so many can attest to, “the” is not needed and will often sound grueling to a native speakers ears.
My point: Some things change and become generally acceptable to the masses. When this happens, then it is considered correct. Granted, maybe not correct in it’s truest form, but again, what’s the point of a language? If we should teach Taiwanese children to put “the” before school in this context, then we should also start teaching them other points of proper English that nobody uses. This way, when they finally get the courage to talk with a native speaker, they’ll sound like a complete idiot or pompous ******. That will surely make them feel more confident.
So I guess this thread has gone on enough. I don’t plan on arguing this point to the government. It truly is small. But please, English teachers, do us a favor and if someday you come across something similar in a book, at least point out to the students that it may arguably be grammatically correct, but that people say it differently. (ok, maybe pointless for 5 year olds)
Thanks all,
oZzo (not ozzy)
Certain words, like school and hospital, for example, are particular since they can be thought of as both places where an activity is the prime context, or a physical structure.
“Going to school” implies not going to the structure that houses the school (regardless of the fact that you are), but that you are going to immerse yourself in the concept of school
You are confusing Vernacular differences for conceptual rules. In American English we never say “go to hospital” we always say “go to the Hospital”
I don’t think we can make sense of this particular grammatical case using logic. Things are correct and incorrect because of the way we commonly use them and eventually they will be accepted by the pedants.
No No Nutella, you are mistaken. I used to think that about American English when I was more ethnocentric than I am now. Because it has come into common use does not always make it right.
An example of this is the unconjugatable verb “seen” in American English.
“I seen him yesterday shootin’ pool,” is perfectly common in the US, but no one would consider that because of its wide use, it is now correct.
Because you are not familiar with the distinction I made earlier does not detract from its correctness.
Oh, and Happy New Year as my last post…for this year?
Knowing when and where to use the comes only from reading and listening. We know this instinctively, because we have read and spoken English our whole lives and not because we were taught how to use the.
Going back to the original post: The context clearly does not need a the. However, as the text book is for ESL students then I suppose it really doesn’t matter. We’d all know what the speaker was on about.
The only way an ESL student could possibly learn when or not to use the is by doing a LOT of reading and listening.
When I taught adults for a while, I’d always try to encourage reading and watching TV without the subtitles. To no avail, as almost everyone is under the impression that the nuances of English can be learned from a text book.
OK, wolf…I agree with you with the example you gave, “I seen…” is definately incorrect grammar, but are you really saying that when Americans say “go to the hospital” they are not using correct grammar? If so, I beg to differ. The difference between the two examples is that “I seen…” is used by some Americans but many including myself use the correct “I have seen…” On the other hand “go to the Hospital” is used by every American I know and has been accepted as correct grammar. I may have misspoke when I said that usage that is commonplace is correct, this of course is not neccesarily so, but when usage becomes so commonplace that it becomes recognized as correct by the grammarians, therefore it becomes a vernacular difference which is indeed correct.
In America “Go to the Hospital” is indeed correct. Can anyone back me up?
Oh, and Happy New Year.
I’m glad you guys mentioned “hospital” because yesterday as I was reading this thread that was the one word that I have always wondered whether it was just a difference in British and NA English.
I say the hospital, but not the school and I could never explain why.