On a British magazine blog that I read is "in government" and in the comments is "to UK government". Is this just another unique example like 'in hospital' or is leaving out 'the' in prepositional phrases the practiced rule in Britain?
The mystifies.
This usage though ( i.e. drop The after preposition ) should be one of those more on the side of rationality than of arbitrary custom or rule.
This one I think is all about sculpting the emphasis curve in the head of the reader. By dropping The, you are saying hey don't look too hard here, the emphasis is elsewhere in the sentence.
Well, I'm mystified. The in general mystifies? Or only in this usage? Mystifies whom – you, or anyone? Mystifies in what respect? I'm not at all seeing where rationality enters into it. Nor do I follow the emphasis thing. Would you please elaborate and simplify? I'm really sorry, but I simply cannot understand what you are saying. I'm obviously missing something.
Mystifies in all those instances.
I was just deploying that semantic tool using a verb stripped of all objects that are normally expected with it. It is a way to express a general truth that presumably had been well established elsewhere:
Art ennobles.
Power corrupts.
Youth pines.
Education costs.
Guns maim.
When you do that, the verb no longer represents an action, but becomes a defining feature of that entity (which is never preceded by The, by the way- another instance where to contemplate the mysteries of The).
There ought to be a name for this usage. There must exist one already. Generalization is really at essence, except that word is obviously way too broad for a name .
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The rationality part- I was just saying that people tend to brush off the peculiarities of language to arbitrary rules; but, as often, there exist rational explanations for them.
Thank you. i ponder.