random Americanism question (because I'm curious)

[deird1]

Okay. So, I went to hospital a few months ago.

Americans, as far as I can gather, would say that I went to the hospital.


Then, while I was in hospital (otherwise known as in the hospital), the husband came and visited me.


Talking about this with him yesterday, I mentioned that he'd "gone to the hospital". From an American standpoint, this seems like it would mean he'd been injured and was lying in a hospital bed. So... how would someone in America indicate that a person had physically gone to the hospital building, but wasn't a patient? Or do you have to spell it out like that?

Comments

[snickfic]

Nope, you don't need to distinguish. He might have gone to the hospital as a patient or as a visitor. If you want to specify that he was a patient, that's when you'd say he was "in the hospital."

Actually, now that I say that, I don't know that I usually hear "to the hospital" as the person being a patient? I think I usually hear "to" as going there in a geographic sense, to visit or to work or whatever, and being a patient is nearly always described as "in."

English prepositions, man. I don't envy anyone who has to learn them.

[deird1]

Hmm... Interesting...

English prepositions, man. I don't envy anyone who has to learn them.

Totally. I've beta'd for a couple of non-native speakers, and the amount of times that picking the wrong preposition can turn a perfectly normal sentence into something obscene is... worrying.