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Is this correct in American English? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4708 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 17 of 23 16 March 2012 at 11:38am | IP Logged | ||
It has no connotations of superiority, it just feels like the phrasal verb requires a "to" preposition and not "with". I know it's not wrong, it just sounds "off". Which is strange since in my native language the latter is actually a better option: "praten/spreken met" And yes, everyone says "in prison" I think. But in the situation of someone being in hospital I would definitely not bother thinking about superiority or kindness and be very very curt as I would likely have other, more pressing matters to deal with anyway :) Edited by tarvos on 16 March 2012 at 11:39am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| anjathilina Diglot Newbie United States Joined 6605 days ago 33 posts - 106 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Spanish, Mandarin Studies: Hindi | Message 18 of 23 16 March 2012 at 4:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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"I'm at a hospital..."
This sounds a little disoriented, like you know that you're at a hospital, but not which one/where it is-- like you got lost and wandered into a hospital to ask a passing nurse where you are. "I'm at the hospital..." This sounds like you are at the hospital visiting a friend or relative, or perhaps, as someone mentioned, just there to get an x-ray or something not requiring you spend the night. "I'm in the hospital..." This sounds like you are in the hospital for some time (at least overnight), sleeping there and eating the marvelous food. :) "I'm in hospital." Americans don't say this in any dialect I have heard. We DO, however, say "in prison," which I never noticed before. Very interesting! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| britmic Newbie United States Joined 4796 days ago 4 posts - 3 votes Speaks: German | Message 19 of 23 16 March 2012 at 6:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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None of those listed sounds American - The say, or would say
I CAN't SPEAK ETC... BECAUSE I'm "IN" hospital! Also not "The Hospital, but colloquelly just "HOSPITAL: I live here (USA) and have been in hospital a few times! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| PillowRock Groupie United States Joined 4735 days ago 87 posts - 151 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 20 of 23 16 March 2012 at 7:10pm | IP Logged | ||
Speaking as an American (born, raised, and lived in the US for all of my 50 years), I have to disagree. "In hospital" (without the "the") comes across entirely as a British-ism. I've only ever heard one native born American say "in hospital" (not counting cases when they were purposely mimicking British speech patterns); and both of his parents were British immigrants, so his speech is sprinkled with a number of things that are more typically British usages. The exact same thing applies to "in future" vs "in the future", including the same particular American who says it the British way. Given those two idioms, I'm not sure why Americans go the other way on "in prison" and "in school", but they do. In these two cases, including "the" makes the phrase come across as meaning "inside that building at the moment", and applies equally to visitors. Without the "the", "in prison" means "is a prisoner" and "in school" means "is a student". I agree with the earlier poster that "at the hospital" (as opposed to "in") generally comes across as implying a short term, non-overnight stay. The one other possibility would be that "I'm at the hospital" might be used to mean "I have just arrived at the hospital" (to contrast with having been en route) even if the stay will be longer. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| britmic Newbie United States Joined 4796 days ago 4 posts - 3 votes Speaks: German | Message 21 of 23 16 March 2012 at 9:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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WELL! iT'S ALL VERY ENTERTAINING BUT FOR SHEAR COMMUNICATION FROM A NON-NATIVE English SPEAKER, I PERSONALLY DON'T THINK IT AMOUNTS TO THE HILL OF THE BEANS! A BIT OF MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING!
RATHER MUCH ADO ABOUT ESOTERIC POINTS, WHEN THE MAIN ISSUE, FROM MY POINT OF VIEW, AND EXPERIENCE IS PLAIN COMMUNICATION - AND TO THAT END CONCENTRATION ON PRONUNCIATION AND OBTAINING IT AS NEAR NATIVE AS POSSIBLE WILL WIN OUT OVER CORRECT GRAMMATICAL NICETIES ALL THE TIME RATHER THAN WITH GRAMMAR PERFECT BUT WITH A ROTTEN PROUNUNCIATION! (PLEASE EXCUSE THE UPPER CASE! "NO YELLING INTENDED", JUST A BIT OF EYESIGHT ISSUE! , 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Wulfgar Senior Member United States Joined 4672 days ago 404 posts - 791 votes Speaks: English* | Message 22 of 23 17 March 2012 at 12:55am | IP Logged | ||
These are all incorrect. They either need to be broken into two sentences, or a connecting word needs to be inserted. It depends on the situation, but I think the following is what the op wants: I'm at the hospital. I can't talk to you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Silent_Shadow10 Newbie United States Joined 4631 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes Speaks: English* | Message 23 of 23 22 March 2012 at 2:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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To me, you are correct spoken, but not written.
Written, it would be "I'm at the hospital, so I can't talk to you" or "I'm at the hospital. I can't talk to you now." 1 person has voted this message useful |
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