Random and slightly odd Brit-picking question

[aphoenix2007]

Okay, so one day, I was watching the show Skins online (shame, really, that you can't even buy the dvds here in the US), and Sid said something along the lines of, "I thought Cassie was still in hospitalAt the time, I was like, that's weird. Whatever

Comments

[misscake]

Only in the US do we use the article "the" when "hospital" is the object of a preposition and/or when referring to a patient. Most other countries do not.

[aphoenix2007]

Ah, thanks very much. :)

[lazy_neutrino]

'In hospital' means that the person is a patient and is staying there. 'In the hospital' means that the person is physically located within the hospital, but not necessarily a patient.

If I was told that my doctor was 'in the hospital', I would just nod and assume he'd gone there for training, but if I heard that he was 'in hospital' I'd ask what was wrong with him.

As far as I know this is national usage in the UK.

[aphoenix2007]

That makes sense. Thanks for the clarification -- now I wish Americans used that phrasing too... it seems so much more convenient.