Hi, All!

In the translation of Jules Verne's "The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras" (project Gutenberg) there are these "table" sentences:

-----Beginning of the citation-----
Hatteras unfolded on the table one of the excellent charts published
in 1859 by the order of the Admiralty.

..."Here is the chart of the Polar Seas," resumed the doctor, who had
brought it to the table;


... Johnson and Bell had a good supper awaiting them.
But before they sat down to table, the doctor said in a voice of
triumph, as he pointed to his two companions,--
----- The end of the citation -----

Can you say a formal excuse why "table" in the last sentence is used without any article?

Bye, All!
Alexander Koryagin

---
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Re: No article
By: Alexander Koryagin to All on Mon Jul 28 2025 21:50:56

But before they sat down to table, the doctor said in a voice of

1) You don't start a sentence with words like "but" and "and".
2) It would be more appropriate to say, "But before they sat down to eat," or
just, "But before they sat down,", implying that they were sitting down to
dinner.
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Hi Mortar,

28.07.2025 18:26:10, Mortar M. wrote:

But before they sat down to table, the doctor said in a voice of

1) You don't start a sentence with words like "but" and "and".

But why shouldn't I? And could it be you made up this "rule" yourself
just now? :-)

2) It would be more appropriate to say, "But before they sat down
to eat," or just, "But before they sat down,", implying that
they were sitting down to dinner.

I can see an excuse to say "to sit down to table", the same way you
would say "I'm back in town" or "He's back from school". Although some
weird cases of not putting an article where it apparently should be do
happen, like in the following sentence (it's from a police report):

"...Robert Nastek was heading north on Olney Laytonsville
Road when he saw Kevin Costlow beating on the hood of car
occupied by Asian females".

Shouldn't it be "beating on the hood of -a- car"?


--
"I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the
box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it."
-- Terry Pratchett
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Hello Gleb!

04 Aug 25 10:41, you wrote to All:

2) It would be more appropriate to say, "But before they sat
down to eat," or just, "But before they sat down,", implying
that they were sitting down to dinner.

Based on discussion with Grok: ;-)

Modern English is different from 19th-century English. In your example, the archaic phrase was retained as it was written by Jules Verne.

Karel

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Hi, Alexander! Recently you wrote in a message to All:

In the translation of Jules Verne's "The Voyages and Adventures
of Captain Hatteras" (project Gutenberg) there are these "table"
sentences:

----- Beginning of the citation -----
Hatteras unfolded on the table one of the excellent charts
published in 1859 by the order of the Admiralty.

..."Here is the chart of the Polar Seas," resumed the doctor,
who had brought it to the table;

... Johnson and Bell had a good supper awaiting them.
But before they sat down to table, the doctor said in a voice
of triumph, as he pointed to his two companions,
----- The end of the citation -----

Can you say a formal excuse why "table" in the last sentence
is used without any article?

My OXFORD CANADIAN DICTIONARY lists "at table" but not "to table".


THE FREE DICTIONARY tells me how to translate "at table " & to "table" into Spanish, but offers no explanation of the sort you apparently want.


When I look up "to" or "at", however, I find many other examples:

to wit (i.e. "viz." or "namely")
to arms, men!
from north to south
sentenced to xxx years in jail
work from nine to five
get to work
add insult to injury

at home, at school, at play
at hand
at cost
at noon
at age 65
at boiling or freezing point
at most


Sometimes I can't offer a formal reason for such things. All I can do
is to identify patterns & add examples. OTOH, you've been studying the English
language for quite some time now... and you've heard me say that the rules many
of us were taught in grade two don't necessarily work in higher grades. When I
was studying French & Latin I ran into similar problems after a few years. :-Q




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

Hi, Ardith Hinton!
I read your message from 30.08.2025 23:56

In the translation of Jules Verne's "The Voyages and Adventures of
Captain Hatteras" (project Gutenberg) there are these "table"
sentences:

----- Beginning of the citation -----
Hatteras unfolded on the table one of the excellent charts
published in 1859 by the order of the Admiralty.

..."Here is the chart of the Polar Seas," resumed the doctor, who
had brought it to the table;

... Johnson and Bell had a good supper awaiting them. But before
they sat down to table, the doctor said in a voice of triumph, as
he pointed to his two companions,

----- The end of the citation -----

Can you say a formal excuse why "table" in the last sentence is
used without any article?

My OXFORD CANADIAN DICTIONARY lists "at table" but not "to table".

THE FREE DICTIONARY tells me how to translate "at table " &
to "table" into Spanish, but offers no explanation of the sort you apparently want.

Indeed, after some thinking I feel that "sat down at table" sounds better. Probably most of books are translated into English by people who are not Englishmen. They convey the contents well, but sometimes use prepositions as at home. ;-)

Bye, Ardith!
Alexander Koryagin
english_tutor 2025

---
* Origin: f1.n221.z2.fidonet.fi (2:221/1.0)

Hi, Mortar! Recently you wrote in a message to Alexander Koryagin:

But before they sat down to table, the doctor said

You don't start a sentence with words like "but" and "and".

That wasn't allowed when I went to school... but language is a moving target & informality is widely accepted these days.

It would be more appropriate to say, "But before they sat down
to eat," or just, "But before they sat down,", implying that they
were sitting down to dinner.

IOW "sit down to dinner" is preferable to "sit down to table".

You live in Texas? Okay, so where you're coming from it might be. I grew up in an ex-Brit neighbourhood fairly close to the 49th parallel.... :-))




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Re: No article
By: Alexander Koryagin to Ardith Hinton on Wed Sep 03 2025 09:32:18

Indeed, after some thinking I feel that "sat down at table" sounds better.

"Sat down to eat/dinner/supper" sounds more natural to me. However, you could also say, "sat down to the table". This way, you don't sound like a caveman.
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