Definite article "the" before "church"

[daltomaciel]

She goes to church to attend mass. But yesterday morning she went to the church in order to talk to the priest.

My question is: why the definite article "the" is ommited before 'church' in the first phrase and not in the second?

[Skrej]

Because 'the' is a definite article, meaning a specific church. She could go to any (Catholic, anyway) church to attend Mass.

'She goes to church to attend mass.' is just a general comment or observation, not specific to any church. However, in the second sentence, it's talking about a specific priest in a specific church for a specific incident. That particular priest was only in that particular church.

Now, if you wanted to make a generic observation about something she does in general, you could say something like "She goes to church to talk to priests."

However, you could still say "But yesterday morning she went to church in order to talk to the priest." It's just a little less specific than "...to the church, in order...the priest"

[Ralf]

Hi dalto,

Definite articles can serve to narrow down the view in order to focus on a singular aspect of a noun.

I sometimes watch TV.
I put the flower pot on the TV in the living room.

Joey Barton is a football player.
"The Joey Barton that we had in the last couple of months of the season was a much-changed character." (Kevin Keegan)
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