Question regarding use of the definite article "the" in English versus American?

Question

To be clear, I am making a differentiation as to the English language as it's spoken by the British commonwealth versus the English language as it's spoken by Americans. In the text of this question I am refering to English as the language and grammar as spoken by the British commonwealth and I am referring to American as the brand of English spoken by Americans.

Here is one example of what I am referring to. Americans will say "My friend is in the hospital.". Whereas English speakers in Great Britain (I don't know about Australia or Canada) will say "My friend is in hospital."

Is there a difference in rules of grammar for English versus American? Or in English (versus American) do certain nouns not require an article?

It's a small question but I've always been curious as to the answer.

This is a serious question and I'm hoping for a serious answer however one of the best parts of yahoo answers is the wisecrack remarks you all send in. So have fun.

Answer 1

It's not really about different "grammatical rules". This is simply an idiomatic difference between British & American English. When speaking of an INSTITUTION generally --that is, to speak of someone acting in the 'main ROLE' that institution is there for:

1) BOTH omit the article in SOME instances, e.g., "in prison" (meaning there AS a prisoner), "at sea" (as a sailor).

2) British English uses "in hopital" (to refer to a patient) and "at university" (to refer to a student)
American English adds "the" in both these instances, but speaks about a student being "in school" or "in college".


On the other hand, both INCLUDE the article if they are NOT considering the people as patient, prisoner, student. In other words, in British English, I would be "in THE hospital" to visit or operate on a patient.

(Frankly, the British idiom is a bit more consistent in these matters -- at least from the examples listed above.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences#Presence_or_absence_of_syntactic_elements

Answer 2

I don't know which British people you have been listening too but when I watch BBC America I hear "the" just as much as Americans.

They say "my friend is in the hospital". American English is based on British English. They use a few words differently than we do like lift for elevator and bangers and mash for sausage and potatoes. But they still use the same language structure that we do. Or at least all the ones I've ever heard do anyway.

Answer 3

Whenever a language spreads far and wide, there are going to be regional differences. Some parts of the USA use the word "coke" as a generic term for carbonated beverages, for instance.

Most of what we consider to be American English was established by Daniel Webster when he wrote his dictionary. He laid down specific things like grammar and pronunciation, some of which was deliberately set apart from the British forms.

Answer 4

i'm no longer an authority, yet i imagine per chance you would possibly want to be "of that particular Nationality" to understand. there are quite some american "so-referred to as" comedies that are fairly embarrassing, and some that are truly humorous see you later as you recognize what they're getting at. In u . s ., on the PBS stations frequently, British comedy is shown and that i have never truly had a tough time "getting it". The exhibits are older..."Are You Being Served?", "holding Appearances", "Vicar of Dibbley", and so on...yet I nevertheless imagine they're extremely humorous.

Answer 5

Being that they started the language and not us, maybe theirs is the correct way to say it and not ours. Perhaps we were the ones who needed the article in there and added it for... well, who knows why? It is a very good question though and one that I have pondered myself. I am putting this on my watch list in the hopes that someone will actually have a real answer!