the verb "Arrive" with no preposition

Question

I've found an interesting sentence and I'm trying to figure out whether it is correct or not.

The sentence is:

When we arrived the forest, it was getting darker.

As far as I know, it is not allowed to use the verb without a preposition.

So, it should be

When we arrived in the forest, it was getting darker.

shouldn't it?

Yes, 'arrive' should take a preposition in this case. I recall that "when we arrived home", for instance, requires no preposition, but in your case it definitely is necessary. — CowperKettle, May 10, 2016 at 18:02
"when we arrived home" is an implied version of "when we arrived (at) home". — user3169, May 10, 2016 at 18:08
The example of arriving home is an interesting one. In short, home acts like a prepositional phrase instead of a noun in some contexts. For example, "Honey, I'm home!" means "I am at home" not "I am a home". — Era, May 10, 2016 at 18:13
@Era Home doesn't act like a prepositional phrase. It is an adverb like there and here. I arrived there. I arrived here. You don't need to place a preposition before an adverb. — user24743, May 10, 2016 at 20:31
@Rathony Those are all adverbs that function like prepositional phrases. You can replace them with prepositional phrases and they mean the same thing. (e.g. "here" = "at this location".) Unlike most other adverbs, they describe where you arrived, not how you arrived. That's all I meant. — Era, May 10, 2016 at 20:42

user3169 · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-10 18:04:56Z

3

According to the dictionary definitions, arrive is an intransitive verb. So it cannot have a direct object. Therefore:

When we arrived the forest, it was getting darker.

is incorrect (forest would be a direct object here).

When we arrived in the forest, it was getting darker.

Is correct. But the prepositional phrase is not required, as in:

When we arrived, it was getting darker.

answered May 10, 2016 at 18:04

user3169

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