Why does one say "I'm going to work. / I'm going to school." without "the"; but says "I'm going to the hospital. / I'm going to the museum."? Why doesn't one say "I'm going to the work. / I'm going to the school.", just like other sentences?
2 Answers
There are a few words in English such as home, work, school, church, and one's bed, that are thought of as fundamental life activities as well as locations. For example, you "go to bed" not "to the bed" unless there is some reason that you need to specify the exact bed.
"Where are you going?" "I'm going to bed." "Where is my coat?" "It is on the bed."
"Where are you?" "I'm at church." "Where is the concert tonight?" "It's at the church."
The British say, "going to hospital" but in American English, for some reason, we still say, "going to the hospital".
If museums became a central life activity, we might eventually start saying that we are "going to museum."
In those cases, I think "work" and "school" are being used as abstract nouns representing the activity more than denoting a physical place. The specific location is not essential to the meaning being communicated, which is actually more around the speaker's activity or state of being. Note that British English does exactly the same with "hospital", too.
