UniLang

Hello all,

Can anybody explain me why "the" sometimes disappears here? When do you say "in town" instead of "in the town"?

The only way I can think of to differentiate these is that 'in town' generally refers to the same city you're in, while 'in the town' refers to another city.

Like if you said the two sentences below (without specifying which town):
There were a lot of people in the town that day; and
There were a lot of people in town that day

I would assume that the first was another city that you're talking about, but the latter would more likely mean the city that you're in. (although this is not always the case).

Also do note that 'in town' can also mean 'in the central city/CBD'.

"In the town" to me refers only to a literal town and the person being described with the phrase is in the town proper.

On the other hand, "in town" refers to anything from a town to a city and (as hashi said) means the town/city/etc. the speaker is in. It also feels looser in terms of where the in-town person is; they could just be in the area, rather than within the exact boundaries of the city.

All right, thank you both, I was thinking this way, too, but I wasn't sure.

hashi wrote:There were a lot of people in the town that day; and
There were a lot of people in town that day

Well to me "the" also is used for specificity. So depending on the context, in hashi's example, I could see both sentences being used for the same situation - for example, let's say there was a festival and two people are reflecting on that day. In that case, the difference to me would be that with "in town" because the town being referred to is implied, there's no need to specify by using an article. While, with "in the town", the speaker is choosing to explicitly specify - ie, "in the town" versus "in the surrounding areas outside of town".

Hi again, I've found some new things I'd like to ask so far.

1. To meet somebody vs to meet with somebody. As far as I understand the second one is more formal, isn't it? Am I right to say that we can use "to meet with somebody" when we talk about two companies or presidents?

2. What's going on with "to show" forms? Is it show - showed - showed or show - showed - shown? If both, what are the difference?

I think that's all for now, I can't remember anything else.
Thank you!

Ambery wrote:Hi again, I've found some new things I'd like to ask so far.

"So far" implies you're reporting your progress on a task, in this case searching for things you want to ask about. You might in fact be doing that, but without you mentioning it first, "so far" sounds out of place.

Ambery wrote:1. To meet somebody vs to meet with somebody. As far as I understand the second one is more formal, isn't it? Am I right to say that we can use "to meet with somebody" when we talk about two companies or presidents?

The difference for me isn't formality. "To meet somebody" can either refer to an unplanned (first) meeting or a planned meeting. "To meet with somebody" can only be a planned meeting. You're right though that when referring to an official meeting, "to meet with" sounds better.

Ambery wrote:2. What's going on with "to show" forms? Is it show - showed - showed or show - showed - shown? If both, what are the difference?

They are both correct. In the passive voice, however, I feel like "shown" is the better option.

Thank you for answering and correcting

Ambery wrote:When do you say "in town" instead of "in the town"?

To me (and I guess this is basically what dEhiN already said), saying "in town" presupposes that the person you're talking to knows (or the people you're talking to know) which town or city you're talking about. "In the town" sounds like an expression you'd use to talk about an unfamiliar town. In fact, I'd probably be more likely to use "in town" than "in the town," although I'd be even more likely to use some other expression at least when talking about my own city, e.g. "in my city," "here," etc.