Subj : No article
To   : Alexander Koryagin
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Sat Aug 30 2025 23:56:31

 Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to All:

AK> In the translation of Jules Verne's "The Voyages and Adventures
AK> of Captain Hatteras" (project Gutenberg) there are these "table"
AK> sentences:

AK> ----- Beginning of the citation -----
AK> Hatteras unfolded on the table one of the excellent charts
AK> published in 1859 by the order of the Admiralty.

AK> ..."Here is the chart of the Polar Seas," resumed the doctor,
AK> who had brought it to the table;

AK> ... Johnson and Bell had a good supper awaiting them.
AK> But before they sat down to table, the doctor said in a voice
AK> of triumph, as he pointed to his two companions,
AK> ----- The end of the citation -----

AK> Can you say a formal excuse why "table" in the last sentence
AK> is used without any article?


          My OXFORD CANADIAN DICTIONARY lists "at table" but not "to table".


          THE FREE DICTIONARY tells me how to translate "at table " & to "table" into Spanish, but offers no explanation of the sort you apparently want.


          When I look up "to" or "at", however, I find many other examples:

                 to wit (i.e. "viz." or "namely")
                 to arms, men!
                 from north to south
                 sentenced to xxx years in jail
                 work from nine to five
                 get to work
                 add insult to injury

                 at home, at school, at play
                 at hand
                 at cost
                 at noon
                 at age 65
                 at boiling or freezing point
                 at most


          Sometimes I can't offer a formal reason for such things.  All I can do
 is to identify patterns & add examples.  OTOH, you've been studying the English
 language for quite some time now... and you've heard me say that the rules many
 of us were taught in grade two don't necessarily work in higher grades.  When I
 was studying French & Latin I ran into similar problems after a few years.  :-Q




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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