tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri May 21 23:33:54 2004

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Re: to bed vs. to the bed

...Paul ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

On Fri, 21 May 2004 [email protected] wrote:
> no.  "bed" is a noun in both sentences, but one is general and idiomatic and
> so has no article, and the other is specific and literal, and thus uses the
> article.  "bed" as a verb has a very specific meaning, one which has very little
> to do with sleep.

Ahem, www.dictionary.com:

Bed:

v.tr.
  1. To furnish with a bed or sleeping quarters:  We bedded our guests
down in the study.
  2.  To put or send to bed.
  3.  To have sexual relations with.
  4.  To plant in a prepared plot of soil.
  5.  To lay flat or arrange in layers.
  6.
    a.  To embed.
    b.  To establish; base.

v.intr.
  1.  To go to bed.
  2.  Geology.  To form layers or strata

I refer to the intransitive form of the word.  "Go to bed" and "go to the
bed" are grammatically different.

What you don't realize (and not just you, many people) is that English has
evolved from a large history of usage, where words of certain types or
usages have fallen in and out of favor.  What is now idiomatic is actually
derived from a past "rule" or usage.

I highly recommend the book "Words and Rules" by Steven Pinker.  It's a
fascinating read (although I admit I never made it past the first quarter
of the book) about the history of language, and how English, even in its
myriad of strange constructions, can usually be found to operate under a
certain set of rules -- even if those rules have long been forgotten in
general.

The phrase "go to bed" is somewhat idiomatic in the fact that no one today
would say it thinking that "bed" is a verb in this case.  However, "bed"
is also an intransitive verb, though most people don't think of it that
way.  But nobody would argue that it was an intransitive verb if I said "I
bedded down for the night."  It's not a common usage (at least, most
people don't believe it to be that common), because they see "go to bed"
as an idiom, not as a legal use of an intransitive form of the word "bed".

Haha!  And now, it is late, so off to bed I go.  Or is it "off to the bed
I go"?  Man, I only wish I was using the transitive verb form in this
case.  :)

...Paul

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