Omission of "the" - Omission of the Definite Article Part 2

The is also omitted before: home, church, hospital, prison, school, etc and before work, sea and town

1home

When home is used alone ie is not preceded or followed by a descriptive word or phrase, the is omitted.

• He is at home.

home used alone can be placed directly after a verb of motion, like go.

• He went home.
      
• I arrived home after dark.  
    
• I sent him home.

But when home is preceded or followed by a descriptive word or phrase it is treated like any other noun:

• They went to their new home.

• We arrived at the bride's home.
• For some years this was the home of your queen.
• A mud hut was the only home he had ever known.

2  bed, church, court, hospital, prison, school/college/university

When the places listed above are visited or used for their primary purpose, the is not used before them.

We go:

• to church to pray.
• to school/university to study.
• to prison as prisoner.
• to court as witnesses, etc. 
• to hospital as patients
• to bed to sleep 

When these places are visited or used for other reasons the is necessary:

• He goes to the school sometimes to repair a few things.
• I went to the court with a letter for someone important.

3  sea

• We go to sea as sailors.

• To be at sea = to be on a voyage.

But

•   We go to/are at the sea = we go to/are at the seaside.

• We live by the sea.

4  town

When speaking of the speaker's own town, the can be omitted:

• We go to town sometimes to buy clothes.

• We were in town last Monday.

5 work and office

work, meaning "place of work", is used without the:

• He isn't back from work yet.
• He is at work.
• He's on his way to work.

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