49. Prepositions after Action Nouns 2

. 

An action noun linked to a second noun by “by” (or irregular equivalent) is like a verb with its subject

ACTION NOUNS AND THEIR PARTNER PREPOSITIONS

The term “action noun” is used in this blog for a noun that is very similar to a particular verb in both spelling and meaning. Examples are movement, spelt substantially like the verb MOVE and able to mean “moving”, and existence, obviously similar to EXIST and able to mean “existing”. For fuller details of action nouns, see 131. Uses of “Action” Nouns and 249. Action Noun Endings.

It is not just meanings that action nouns share with verbs. They can also be linked with their subjects and objects – other nouns that either initiate or are affected by the action or state being expressed. These other nouns are  not the “subjects” and “objects” of action nouns as they are of verbs, because association with a verb is a defining feature of those terms. However, they could be called “subject-like” and “object-like” because if the action noun is changed into its equivalent active verb, they will become either its subject or object.

English has various ways of marking a noun as subject-like or object-like. One of these is with prepositions – special ones in each case. In this post I wish to examine what these prepositions are with subject-like nouns, and how they can be used. For prepositions needed before object-like nouns, see 31. Prepositions after Action Nouns 1. For details of prepositions in general, see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions.

.

THE REGULAR PREPOSITION WITH SUBJECT-LIKE NOUNS

In the following sentence, audiences is recognizable as the subject of the verb enjoy (see 12. Singular and Plural Verb Choices):

(a) Audiences enjoy a presentation more if visual aids are used.

The action noun related to enjoy here is enjoyment. How might audiences be linked with it in the following sentence?

(b) The enjoyment of a presentation … will increase if visual aids are used.

It is necessary, of course, to use a preposition, here saying by audiences. One could also change the order of the words, beginning Audience enjoyment…, with the subject-like noun directly in front of the action noun (see 136. Types of Description by Nouns, #6). Adding an apostrophe ending to the first noun is possible here too (Audiences’ enjoyment… – see 58. Optional Apostrophe Endings).

The use of by with action nouns is very similar to that with passive verbs. In both cases the following noun would have been a subject if the action had been expressed by an active verb, and in both cases the whole by phrase can be left out without making the sentence ungrammatical. It is indeed this possibility of leaving out by phrases that may help to explain the frequency of action nouns in academic and professional writing: they enable avoidance of undesirable subjects (see 46. How to Avoid “I”, “We” and “You”). The use of by with action nouns also resembles its use before the author of a work or project, as in a film by Spielberg or a painting by Matisse.

The preposition that has to be used to mark a subject-like noun is very commonly by, but not always: various other prepositions are sometimes found. We could say as a result that by is the “regular” subject-showing preposition, while the others are “irregular”. As might be expected, the need for by with an action noun is rarely a problem for speakers of other languages trying to learn English, whereas the need for a different subject-showing preposition can cause errors. It is this latter need that the rest of this post is about.

.

IRREGULAR SUBJECT PREPOSITIONS

Before considering alternatives to by with subject-like nouns, it is important to rule out usages that look like alternatives but are not. These involve verb-derived nouns that express not the action of the verb but such alternatives as its outcome or circumstance (see 280. Alternative Meanings of Action Nouns). Some, such as difference and end, do only this, while others, such as discovery, do it sometimes (besides meaning “discovering”, discovery can mean “thing that has been discovered”: see 14. Action Outcomes).

Such nouns cannot usually follow by. Often they will have of (e.g. America was the discovery OF Columbus), or from (advice FROM the police is to…). These cannot be considered “irregular” uses, since the nouns are no longer “action” nouns. For more on this use of from, see 246. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 2, #4.

There are at least two different types of action noun that require a different subject-showing preposition from by: desire nouns and nouns derived from intransitive verbs.

.

1. Usage after Desire Nouns

A common desire noun is a request (derived from the verb TO REQUEST). Both object-like and subject-like nouns used with it need an irregular preposition. The one with the latter is of:

(c) The Government met the request OF banks for more time. 

It would also be possible to use from with this particular noun, but I want to highlight of because it is needed with various other nouns with similar meaning to REQUEST. These include demand, desire, call, liking, longing, love, need, respect, taste, wish and yearning (it is true that some of these actually express states rather than actions, but I would still call the entire list “action” nouns because they mean what their corresponding verbs mean).

Using of instead of by before a subject-like word has a surprising consequence when this word is a pronoun rather than a noun: it must be a possessive one instead of a simple personal one. Thus, whereas it is correct after by to say me, you, her, us or them, after of these must become mine, yours, hers, ours or theirs (e.g. a request of theirs). For more on this sort of combination, see 247. Exotic Grammar Structures 6, #4.

.

2. Usage after Nouns Derived from Intransitive Verbs

Intransitive verbs cannot have an object and cannot be made passive (see 113. Verbs That Cannot Be Passive). Not all can be made into action nouns, but those that can include APPEAR, DETERIORATE, EMERGE, FAIL, FLOW and OCCUR. The corresponding nouns are appearance, deterioration, emergence (see 157. Tricky Word Contrasts 5, #3), failure, flow, and occurrence. If you use one of these nouns with the subject of the action, you must normally use of, e.g.:

(d) The appearance OF the sun made a difference.

Some other action nouns, such as movement, come from verbs that are sometimes transitive and sometimes intransitive (see 4. Verbs that Don’t Have to Be Passive). This connection is reflected in the fact that both of and by are usually possible with a subject-like noun, depending on whether or not the verb would have had an object: 

(e) The movement OF road vehicles is recorded on video.

(f) The movement of goods BY road vehicles is increasing. 

In (e) the subject preposition has to be of because road vehicles is the subject of the action (they cause the moving) and there is no object (they move themselves); while in (f) the subject preposition is by because there is also a noun (goods) corresponding to the object of the transitive verb move.

Other nouns like movement include change, continuation, development (see 201. Words with Complicated Grammar, #1), division and expansion.

The fact that of can show both the “subject” and the “object” of an action, depending on whether the action noun’s verb would have had an object, sometimes allows a double meaning. Consider this:

(g) The movement of animals presents problems. 

If movement corresponds to the intransitive use of move, animals is a subject and the sentence is about the problems presented by animals moving themselves from one place to another. However, if the transitive use of move applies, animals is an object, and the sentence is about the problems presented when someone (a subject with by that has been left unmentioned) has to transport animals. For more on double meanings, see 124. Structures with a Double Meaning 1.

.

3. Usage after Special Nouns Derived from Intransitive Verbs

Some nouns derived from an intransitive verb need in instead of of – and cause understandable grammar errors as a result (see 10. Words with Unexpected Grammar 1, #h). Usually nouns like this have a similar meaning to RISE and FALL, e.g.:

(h) The markets have seen a rise IN share prices. 

Other nouns like this are INCREASE, IMPROVEMENT, JUMP, LEAP, CLIMB, GAIN, DECREASE, DROP, SLUMP, CRASH, PLUNGE, TUMBLE, DIP, REDUCTION and CHANGE. For a fuller list, see 115. Surveying Numerical Data.

Like movement above, some of these nouns correspond to verbs that can be either transitive or intransitive. When the corresponding verb is transitive, there is no irregularity: the subject then has by, the object of. Compare: 

(i) There has been an increase IN taxes.

(j) There has been an increase OF taxes (BY the Government). 

What is different here compared to nouns like movement is that leaving out the by phrase does not create ambiguity: of still shows an original object and not a subject. Most writers able to choose between an increase in (+ subject) and an increase of (+ object) seem to prefer the former. In using it, there is a need to avoid confusion with increasing (see 144. Words that are Often Heard Wrongly).

Now here is a small exercise for readers who wish to test their command of subject prepositions.

.

PRACTICE EXERCISE: SUBJECT-SHOWING PREPOSITIONS

Rewrite the following sentences so that they contain the action nouns shown in brackets and begin with the underlined words (answers below).

1. If a fire has destroyed a forest, it is not a total disaster. (DESTRUCTION). 

2. Unauthorised people may not purchase drugs. (PURCHASE) 

3. Companies may fail after sales drop. (DROP) 

4. We require your cooperation so that our support may continue. (CONTINUATION) 

5. The government denies that the police accept bribes. (ACCEPTANCE) 

6. Local councils can only maintain roads if sufficient funding exists. (MAINTENANCE … EXISTENCE).

.

ANSWERS (some variations are possible) 

1. Destruction of a forest by a fire is not a total disaster.

2. Purchase of drugs by unauthorised people is prohibited (not allowed).

3. Companies may fail after a drop in sales.

4. Continuation of our support depends on (requires, needs) your cooperation.

5. The government denies the acceptance of bribes by the police.

6. Maintenance of roads by local councils depends on (requires, needs) the existence of sufficient funding.

48. Tricky Word Contrasts 1

.

Some commonly-confused word pairs are here listed and explained in order to assist their correct use

TRICKY CONTRASTS IN ENGLISH

Whether or not English is your mother tongue, you may be familiar with the tricky contrast between the two similar words princiPLE and princiPAL. The first is a noun meaning “guiding belief” or “basic rule”, the second either an adjective meaning “main” or a noun meaning “head person”. The reason why this contrast is likely to be familiar is that it is, along with a few others, very popular with English Language textbook writers. 

In this post (and similarly-titled later ones). I wish to analyse some confusing vocabulary pairs which are not often explained in English courses but which have in my experience led to errors by academic and professional writers with a mother tongue other than English.

Additional analyses of confusingly similar words are scattered throughout this blog in posts like 16. Ways of Distinguishing Similar Words,  44. Troublesome Prepositional Verbs,  94. Essay Instruction Words and 240. Nouns that End with “-ing”. For tricky word contrasts of the more recognised kind, see the Learning Materials page. For some confusingly similar grammatical structures, see 217. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 1.

.

LIST OF CONTRASTS

1. “Until Now” – “Up to Now”

These both help to specify a time period starting in the past and ending now – a type of “duration” (see 258. Saying How Long Something Lasts). The difference is that until now means the period stops now, while up to now means it may continue. Consider:

(a) Everything has been going well until now. 

This means everything is no longer going well. With up to now, by contrast, the possibility of everything going well into the future would exist.

Inexperienced English speakers very commonly use until now to express the meaning of up to now. I know of no other expression meaning until now, but alternatives to up to now include to date (see 114. Tricky Word Contrasts 3, #6), to this day (for historical events), ever since and so far. Note. though, that all expressions meaning “up to now” are emphatic – the very use of the present perfect verb tense (with has) is enough to convey the same meaning.

Even more care is needed in sentences with since, e.g.:

(b) Since last year, everything has been going well.

Here the meaning of “up to now” is already expressed in two different ways, through since as well as the verb tense (see 61. “Since” versus “Because”), so its communication by more words is even less desirable (see 24. Good and Bad Repetition). On the other hand, until now is still possible, provided of course that discontinuation is meant.

.

2. “By Definition” – “Defined As”

By definition signals not a definition but a consequence of one. The normal way to define is with BE alone or is/may be defined as (see 286. Repeating in Different Words):

(c) Disinfection may be defined as a process by which an object or area is chemically cleansed of harmful organisms. It is by definition unsuitable for food.

The second sentence here names the consequence of the preceding definition. It expects the reader to know that chemical cleaning of food would probably make it poisonous.

.

3. “Consider …” – “Consider … As”

CONSIDER usually means either “think about” or “believe”. The first meaning needs or implies a following noun or equivalent (an “object”):

(d) One must consider (everything) carefully before acting.

For more about implied objects, see 8. Object-Dropping Errors. For more about this meaning of CONSIDER, see 33. Complex Example-Giving and 128. Imperative Verbs in Formal Writing, #5.

The second common meaning of CONSIDER requires either that… or an object plus a noun or adjective expression clarifying the object’s meaning, e.g.:

(e) Paranoia sufferers consider everything a threat.

It is usually possible in such sentences to add to be after the object, but not as (see 92. Verbs with an Object + “as”). The optional use of to be even exists when CONSIDER is passive (see 299. Infinitives after a Passive Verb, #1). Using as is a common error among inexperienced English users, especially those whose mother tongue has a word like consider which is typically followed by an equivalent of as.

I used to tell students never to use as after CONSIDER, but that is not completely true either. Consider the following:

(f) People affected by traffic congestion should consider motorbikes as a solution.

In sentences like this, CONSIDER has the first of its two meanings (“think about”), the one that does not have a noun or adjective after its object, and as is introducing an adverbial phrase indicating why the considering should take place. When this kind of interpretation is possible, the words after as will usually suggest “option” or “way”.

Very occasionally, as is possible when CONSIDER does not have the first meaning above. I suspect that in such cases CONSIDER has a third meaning of “imagine” or “visualise”. A possible example is:

(g) Successful sports teams may consider matches as wars.

.

4. “The Above” – “This” / “That”

At the start of a sentence, this normally represents any idea in an immediately-preceding sentence except its subject (see 28. Pronoun Errors). That is similar but distances the writer more (see 234. Adjective & Pronoun Uses of “that”).

The above, however, refers to an idea somewhere before the preceding sentence, or to an earlier data source such as a diagram (see 104. Naming Data Sources with “As”). It thus resembles its opposite below (which follows its noun: see 74. Sentence Lists 3: Bullet Points).

.

5. “Economical” – “Economic”

These are both adjectives derived from the noun economy. The following sentences illustrate the difference:

(f) A constant speed of 80 kph is economical for cars.

(g) The inflation rate is a key economic indicator of prosperity.

Economical in (f) means nothing more than “saving money”. Economic, on the other hand, means “recognised by economists”.

Some other -ic adjectives can similarly add -al to express a different meaning. Common ones are historic(al) and politic(al) (see 172. Multi-Use Suffixes, #3). Words able to have both endings tend to be of Greek origin (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary).

.

6. “Sorry For” – “Sorry About”

Sorry can show apology or sympathy. Apology is understood in relation to a regretted action carried out by the sorry person. For introduces the action itself, about its context or outcome:

(h) (I am) Sorry FOR submitting my assignment late.

(i) (I am) Sorry ABOUT the late assignment.

Sorry shows sympathy when the sorry person had no involvement in the regretted action. About goes with the event itself, while for goes with the people it affects:

(j) Sorry ABOUT your accident.

(k) We are/feel sorry FOR the accident victims.

Sentences like (k) cannot start with sorry.

The adjective happy is a little like sorry. Happy with accompanies our own experiences or things (e.g. I’m happy with my car), happy about accompanies other people’s (I’m happy about your new job), and happy for accompanies other people. For more examples of such preposition variability, see 134. Words with a Variable Preposition.

.

7. “Test” – “Taste”

These are problematic through their similarity in not just meaning but also spelling and pronunciation. Indeed, the vowels that make the difference, /e/ versus /eɪ/, sound the same to speakers of some languages.

The meaning difference is one of “general/specific”: all tasting is testing, but not all testing is tasting (see 16. Ways of Distinguishing Similar Words, #4). If we test something or somebody, we cause them to be used (or to behave) in a relevant way so that we can judge them. Tasting involves a particular kind of use: placing something against our tongue so we can see if we like it.

.

8. “e.g.” – “i.e.”

Most people know that e.g. means “for example” and i.e. means “that is to say” (see 130. Formal Abbreviations). But what exactly do these two meanings mean? The difference is in the kind of information that follows: e.g. introduces an incomplete list (see 1. Simple Example-Giving), whereas i.e. introduces a complete list (see 54. Sentence Lists 1: Incidental). Compare: 

(l) The countries of the UK, e.g. Wales, were once independent.

(m) The countries of the UK, i.e. Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, were once independent.

Note that e.g. and i.e. cannot begin a sentence in the way their unabbreviated equivalents can (see 226. Words with Complicated Grammar 2, #4).

.

9. “With Regards” – “With Regard”

With regards (to) uses a countable plural noun meaning “greetings, with regard to an uncountable noun meaning “respect” or “reference”. However, English speakers today often use regards for both meanings.

With regard to is replaceable by as regards or regarding, both made with the verb REGARD:

(n) No information is available with regard to (or as regards or regarding) your application.

Using a verb means the -s ending is singular, and to cannot follow (see 42. Unnecessary Prepositions). With regard to and as regards are examples of multi-word prepositions.

.

10. “In Case Of” – “In The Event Of”

These multi-word prepositions both introduce a future occurrence. To appreciate the difference, consider the following:

(o) A cash reserve is kept in case of an emergency.

(p) Call the manager in the event of an emergency. 

The first is about preparation for the future emergency, while the second is about reaction to it. In other words, the underlined idea in (o) exists before the future event, while in (p) it is after (note, though, that American English often uses in case with either meaning).

In case of corresponds to the conjunction in case; in the event of corresponds to if (see 205. Paraphrasable Prepositions). Both conjunctions are illustrated in 118. Problems with Conditional “if”, #1.

.

11. “In The Future” – “In Future”

The difference here is between predictions (with the) and threats, promises, commands or decisions (without the). Only predictions are about uncontrollable future events (see 96. Avoiding Untruths 2: Lists & Predictions and 147. Types of Future Meaning). Compare: 

PREDICTION

(q) In the future, humans will travel to Mars. 

PROMISE/DECISION

(r) In future, customers will be recompensed. 

COMMAND

(s) In future, you must make your complaint in writing.

Sentence (q) suggests the future action is outside the control of both speaker and addressee, while (r) indicates the speaker’s control, (s) the addressee’s. Adding the before future in (r) would make it a prediction, with no commitment to make it happen. For further idiomatic contrasts involving the, see 235. Special Uses of “the”, #8.

47. Article Errors with Proper Nouns

.

It is not true to say that some proper nouns always have “the” and some never have it

GENERAL FEATURES OF ARTICLE USAGE WITH PROPER NOUNS

“Proper” nouns are a subset of English nouns, alongside “countable” and “uncountable” ones. Happily, whereas these other kinds can be quite hard to identify (see 14. Noun Countability Clues 1), proper nouns are more easily recognisable. It is tempting to say they are “names” of things, though in fact many names are not proper nouns (see 206. Ways of Conveying a Name). More precisely, proper nouns name particular types of things. They are also recognisable in reading from their spelling with a capital first letter regardless of their sentence position (though see 62. Choices with Capital Letters).

Proper nouns also seem to have easier article usage rules: the same noun tends to have the same article – usually the or usually “zero” – wherever it is used. Normally, it is the basic meaning of the noun – which fixes it as “proper” in the first place – that also determines its article. This is different from article usage before other nouns, which more widely need the in some situations and either a(n) or “zero” in others (see 110. Nouns without “the” or “a”).

Nevertheless, article usage with proper nouns is not completely without problems. What I wish to do here is to show how the normal article choice with a proper noun sometimes has to be changed. I am not talking here about space-saving reasons for dropping the (the topic of 158. Abbreviated Sentences), but rather grammatical rules. Other Guinlist posts that have something to say about the include 6. Adjectives with no Noun 1: People-Naming,  89. Using “the” with General Meaning,  110. Nouns without “the” or “a”,  178. How to Write a Heading and 235. Special Uses of “the”.

.

LIST OF PROPER NOUN TYPES

The way grammar books tend to approach the use of the before proper nouns is by listing the types of things that proper nouns with and without the typically name. The list might look something like the following:

Without ‘the’

People (Alicia, Ghosh)
Cities (Paris, Monrovia)
Airports and Harbours (Entebbe Airport, Sydney Harbour)
Languages (Swahili, Hindi)
Sports Teams (Manchester United, Queen’s Park)
Streets (Park Lane, Trafalgar Square, Broadway)
Planets (Earth, Mars, Venus)
Most Countries (Ireland, North Korea)
Most Mountains (Mount McKinley, Table Mountain)
Most Academic Subjects (History, English Language)
Most Shops and Companies (Barclays Bank, Marconi – but The BBC)

.

With ‘the’

Rivers (The Indus, The Missouri)
Deserts (The Kalahari, The Atacama)
Mountain ranges (The Andes, The Ruwenzori)
Seas/Oceans (The South China Sea, The Arctic Ocean)
Plural Countries/Areas (The Maldives, The West Indies)
Most Newspapers (The Times, The Economist)
Museums and Art Galleries (The Louvre, The Prado, The National Gallery)
Decades (The Eighties)

In addition, some names of buildings have the and some do not. We say The Eiffel Tower, The White House, The Taj Mahal and The London Underground, but we also say Blackpool Tower, London Bridge, Notre Dame Cathedral and Buckingham Palace.

There are also some noun types that are less rigid in their article requirements. Days and months (Friday, July) tend to have “zero” but also allow the normal choice between the and a(n) (e.g. a Friday in July, the Friday when it happened). Compass points (North, South etc.) may not have a capital at all, but when they do they seem to drop the as often as they need it (see 151. Ways of Using Compass Words). Seasons (Summer, Winter) are similar.

Note furthermore that proper nouns normally used with the have to drop it after the whole, e.g. the whole United States, the whole Nile, even though the remains necessary after the otherwise exactly equivalent the whole of (the whole of the United States: see 308. Complexities of “Whole”, #2). This rule applies solely to proper nouns that normally have the; those that disallow the combine only with the whole of and do not change their article usage (e.g. the whole of France, not *the whole France).

.

PROPER NOUNS USED LIKE ADJECTIVES

The Guinlist post 38. Nouns Used Like Adjectives shows how a noun is often usable before another noun in order to describe it like adjectives do. The post also points out that such “adjectival” nouns have no influence on the presence or absence of a(n) or the before them, this being  the prerogative of the noun they are describing, as in this example:

(a) World wealth has greatly increased. 

The adjectival noun here is world. When it is not adjectival, we would expect to find the in front of it, but we do not find any article here because wealth is the controlling noun, and its uncountability rules out a while its generic meaning rules out the (see 110. Nouns without “the” or “a”).

Proper nouns are as easily used like adjectives as other nouns are (see 136. Types of Description by Nouns). They have to follow the same rules for the presence or absence of a(n)/the. Consider these:

(b) The Manila climate can be uncomfortable.

(c) Arctic Ocean wildlife is suffering. 

In (b), the city name Manila, which would not normally follow the, does so because the next noun climate is singular and countable, and hence needs an article. This means the in (b) does not really “go with” Manila – but it still needs to be positioned just before it. The only way Manila could be used before climate in its normal way, without an article, is by being given an apostrophe ending – Manila’s climate – a very possible alternative (see 58. Optional Apostrophe Endings).

In (c) the normal the found with Arctic Ocean is absent because of wildlife, an uncountable noun that here has general meaning and is hence, like wealth, unable to have an article (though The Arctic Ocean’s wildlife is also possible).

Thus, placing a proper noun in front of another noun in order to describe it is a noteworthy situation where the normal rules for using or not using an article with a proper noun may not seem to apply.

.

PROPER NOUNS THAT CAN REPRESENT DIFFERENT POSSIBILITIES

Besides day and month nouns, some referring to people and places stand for more than one possibility. This is true, for example, of London, which is the name of a Canadian city as well as the capital of the UK. In ordinary usage we do not need to clarify which London we are talking about, since the context will make it obvious. If we do have to give a clarification, however, we can put the in front of the proper noun. The following example is from the post 34. Relative Pronouns and Commas:

(d) The London in Canada is sometimes confused with the London in England. 

As this sentence shows, using the to clarify a proper noun is likely to involve descriptive wording after the noun, in this case preposition phrases (for an overview of the possibilities, see 252. Descriptive Wording after Nouns 1). Note, though, that there is at least one kind of following descriptive wording that does not result in the use of the before a proper noun (see 77. Apposition, #1f).

In some cases we can even use a before names of people and places, especially the former. Sentences like the following are fairly common in the workplace: 

(e) An Alan Jones is here to see you. 

The article a makes it clear that the speaker does not think the addressee knows this Mr Jones. This use of a might in fact be a short way of saying a person called (Alan Jones). 

Also worth mentioning here is the use of one before a person’s name (which was asked about once by a reader of this blog ). This usage also indicates that the person is not known, but seems to suggest in addition that he/she is somehow unusual or strange.

.

PROPER NOUNS WITH VARIABLE MEANINGS

Sometimes we have to go against a normal article rule because a proper noun is not being used with its normal meaning. Take the name The London Underground. This is quite often written without the in official notices to passengers: 

(f) London Underground regrets that no trains are running today. 

I think that the reason for the absence of the here is that the noun is a company name (like American Express or British Petroleum). When the is present, the speaker is more likely to be thinking about the actual buildings (trains and railway lines) than its management (see 235. Special Uses of “the”, #4):

(g) The London Underground gets hot in summer. 

A similar (though not the same) thing happens with English Language, the name of a subject on a timetable. If it is written the English language (with the and a small “l”), it is no longer being thought of as a subject, but is just the name of the language (not a “proper” noun at all). There is a similarity here to familiar contrasts like the following, which involve ordinary nouns:

(h) The doctor went to the hospital/prison/college.

(i) The doctor went to hospital/prison/college. 

With the, we understand that a visit was made for a reason that is not clear. Without it, the visit is to be a “customer” of the place visited (as patient, inmate or student). The verb action is more passive (see 21. Active Verbs with Non-Active Meanings). The similarity is that the usage without the again implies a (received) human activity rather than a static object.