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tsaxer said:
OK, well, what if you wanted to find out if someone had a degree, how would you say:
Did you go to _?_ university? Would you use an "a"?

Yes and no. "Did you go to a unversity?" would make sence... but I think "Where did you go to college?" makes more sence.
 
I go to THE university for an education. I go to THE hospital for healthcare.

If somebody (usually from another country) says "I'm going to university" I wait for the rest of the noun, e.g., "I'm going to University Plaza for a pizza", then I realize they are simply using the other convention.
 
I use "uni" or "university", no "the"! When talking to people about uni's where there are multiple Universities in question I refer to them by their place/location/other part of their title, such as Staffordshire, Derby, Nottingham, Birmingham (Uni)...etc etc.

I've never heard anyone here say "the University", and its usually spoken as a place, or an institution.

I guess it could be because that our Universities here have their location or other part of the name first, such as "Staffordshire University" and not "University of Staffordshire". I know we have some uni's which do it that way in the UK, but its mostly "University" being the last part of the name, therefore needs no "the"!

Hope this makes sense! :confused:




I cannot understand that why the name of some universities starts with "The University of....", in some cases we see "University of...", and finally we see ".... University"!!!! Some examples are as follows:
1) University of Oxford
2) McGill University
3) The university of Manchester
QUESTION: is there any general rule on using the above three options? Or it has been chosen by chance? At first, it seems to me that we are talking about a city or province, we should use "The". But this is not the case in general. For example we have "University of Alberta", without "The". What is going on here?
 
I cannot understand that why the name of some universities starts with "The University of....", in some cases we see "University of...", and finally we see ".... University"!!!! Some examples are as follows:
1) University of Oxford
2) McGill University
3) The university of Manchester
QUESTION: is there any general rule on using the above three options? Or it has been chosen by chance? At first, it seems to me that we are talking about a city or province, we should use "The". But this is not the case in general. For example we have "University of Alberta", without "The". What is going on here?

You forgot to mention- REVIVED THREAD! :p

As to the subject, my opinion it's the College's choice to use the or not...
 
This reminds me of references to highways/freeways, in particular in California where in the northern parts people just say "Take 101 north to ..." while in the southern parts the same thing would be said as "Take the 101 north to ...".
 
I actually wasn't sure whether the university from which I hold a master's degree and am currently employed included "The" as part of its name, so I checked a convenient piece of official documentation

IMG_2092.JPG


Even so, in this area it's typical to when referring to yourself as a student or employee to say "I go to/work at U of L" or "I go to/work at Louisville." Funny enough, our other major state university is typically referred to as "UK" and not "U of K", although "Kentucky" is synonymous.

And, I'd agree that around here, "college" is the catch-all for referring to your attendance at any institute of higher learning. My undergraduate education was completed at a college, and arguably some of the most prestigious schools in this state(and in bordering states, for that matter) are colleges and not universities. The key differentiation is that a university is composed(organizationally) of a variety of schools/colleges-i.e. I work for the "College of Arts and Sciences" but we also have a "School of Engineering", "School of "Medicine", "School of Dentistry", "School of Law", etc.
 
"The" is "official" and for pompous individuals.... When everyone asks me I either use the initials (my Univeristy is well known) or I just start with Univeristy no sense in adding "the" in a conversation
 
It depends. If I'm talking to someone not from the area I say the entire (official) name of the university. If I'm talking to someone local, the initials will do because everyone knows what I'm talking about.
 
"The" is "official" and for pompous individuals.... When everyone asks me I either use the initials (my Univeristy is well known) or I just start with Univeristy no sense in adding "the" in a conversation

I think that when including "the" in the name the amount of pompousness is dependent on how it's said :)

In all seriousness, though, if I'm talking to someone from around here I'll usually say "I work at U of L" or "I work at Louisville." When saying the full name, though, it seems gramatically incorrect to say "I work at University of Louisville" rather than to say "the University of Louisville." It only starts to sound pompous-to me at least-when you overtly emphasize "the" such as in "THE Ohio State University"(to give a well-known example).
 
I think that when including "the" in the name the amount of pompousness is dependent on how it's said :)

In all seriousness, though, if I'm talking to someone from around here I'll usually say "I work at U of L" or "I work at Louisville." When saying the full name, though, it seems gramatically incorrect to say "I work at University of Louisville" rather than to say "the University of Louisville." It only starts to sound pompous-to me at least-when you overtly emphasize "the" such as in "THE Ohio State University"(to give a well-known example).

Haha I'm glad you got my joke ... All NFL games blah blah from THE Univeristy of Blah Blah and you're totally correct about correct grammar when leaving out "the" in the sentence ... Just read my response to clarify my last sentence .... When asked where I went to school I always respond with UNC and if they look at me weird I just say North Carolina ... That's what you get for writing in forums with no coffee
 
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A university is not a school. Daft yank terminology.
In colloquial speech when people are just having personal conversations "school" easily comes up in the context of referring to higher education, just as "college" does. It's pretty well understood what is meant by it in the context of conversations and even beyond.
 
In colloquial speech when people are just having personal conversations "school" easily comes up in the context of referring to higher education, just as "college" does. It's pretty well understood what is meant by it in the context of conversations and even beyond.

Well said.... Maybe it's because we're older and that's the last school we attended.
 
A Canadian's perspective: When referring to the actual institution, I would add 'The', as in "I graduated from The University of Alberta". But when describing the time frame I was enrolled, it's just 'university', as in "during university..." This is one big difference I've found between Americans and Canadians: Americans, no matter where they went, refer to it as 'college', whether it was Harvard or Smalltown Community College. In Canada, if you went to a university, you say 'university', because 'college' is seemingly a step-below.

Same, although I'd only use "the" when it's of the form "the University of X". Whereas if it's initials or just the name isn't the "of" form, like "MRU" / "Mount Royal University", then there would be no "the".
 
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In colloquial speech when people are just having personal conversations "school" easily comes up in the context of referring to higher education, just as "college" does. It's pretty well understood what is meant by it in the context of conversations and even beyond.

A school is a learning academy that a child goes to. Higher education is not done at a school. This is as daft as saying "you could of" or "intensive purposes" or "you could care less". Such English, for that's what we speak/type here, terms in American language are just plain wrong.
 
A school is a learning academy that a child goes to. Higher education is not done at a school. This is as daft as saying "you could of" or "intensive purposes" or "you could care less". Such English, for that's what we speak/type here, terms in American language are just plain wrong.

It is informal language used in familiar communication. One wouldn't refer to a university as 'school' in formal communication any more than one would use contractions. Does it surprise you that there are differences in informal English between England and the US?
 
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This thread just got hilarious.... Now I'm going to need at least a 1000 word response supporting your position on this topic.... Do not forget to cite your sources....
 
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