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159
to be at
to go to
to come to
to come from
to leave
school,
college,
(the) university
to be at
to leave
to take to
hospital
from beginning to end
from day to day
from east to west
from head to foot
from morning to (till) night
from side to side
in debt
in demand
in secret
in sight
in time
to be at
to go to
sea
to be in
to go to
church
to be at
to put to
prison
in addition to
in (on) behalf of
in care of
in case of
in charge of
in reference to
to be in
to be out of
to go to
town
to ask (for) permission
to catch (lose) sight of
to give offence (permission)
to give way to
to keep house (to do housework)
to keep time
to lose touch with
to lose track of
to make fun of
to make use of
to pay attention to
to set fire to
to shake hands with
to take care of
to take notice of
In these set expressions nouns combine with prepositions or verbs and acquire a new shade of meaning,
expressing an adverbial relation, a state or a process. Concrete count nouns lose their nominal meaning. Thus
He is in bed may mean He is ill, or He is asleep, or He is not up. But we say: There were no chairs enough and
we sat on the bed.
My brother goes to school (college) means He learns there. However, if we mean the building or the
institution, we use an article according to the general rules, as in: We shall meet at the school. The school isn't
far from our home. Ours is a very good school. Parents are regularly invited to the school.
The noun town without an article means the nearest big centre of population as contrasted to the country or a
smaller town, it may also denote the central part of a big town, as opposed to its suburbs.
To be at sea may mean "far away from the land" or (figuratively) "to feel puzzled"; to go to sea is "to
become a sailor". But we say: The swimmer jumped into the sea. We lived near the sea, etc.
No article is used as a rule when two notions, very closely related, are mentioned, as in:
They looked like mother and daughter.
We are no longer boy and girl.
It’s no use interfering into a quarrel between husband and wife.
§ 203. Notes on the use of nouns denoting time and meals.
Nouns denoting time are treated as abstract nouns bordering on proper names. No article is used with
reference to parts of the day or of the year, light or darkness, as in:
Evening came. Night fell. Day broke. We’ll wait till night. Twilight is the faint light just before sunset and
just after sunrise. Winter set in. “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”