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Sometimes I see go XXX (go home) and sometimes go to XXX (go to school, go to work). Is there any specific rule about this?

JSBձոգչ
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Luke Vo
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    @Jasper Loy: I was totally distracted by the use of somewhere without the delimiters <>, taking it literally. Now when I check the original, I feel the original conveyed the OP's intention better. – Kris Jan 03 '12 at 12:29

1 Answers1

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When go is followed by a noun, it needs to. When it's followed by anything else, it doesn't. (In 'go home', home is an adverb.)

Barrie England
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    I expected this answer to be challenged. I'd be grateful if the down-voter would do so, perhaps by producing counter-examples. – Barrie England Jan 03 '12 at 07:55
  • So I should wait for more answers, right? – Luke Vo Jan 03 '12 at 11:21
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    @W.N.: Some words may not immediately appear to be nouns and therefore seem to conflict: Go fishing/ Go shopping. In reality, I do not see any conflict here, though. – Kris Jan 03 '12 at 11:42
  • Barrie, I have posted numerous comments seeking out the fly-by down voters. Someone should post a question on meta and try to solve this. – Kris Jan 03 '12 at 11:45
  • @Kris: Encouraging people to explain down-votes – Matt E. Эллен Jan 03 '12 at 11:55
  • Agree, I saw your post point was 3, now it's 2, so someone must have vote you down. I hate those lazy people! – Luke Vo Jan 03 '12 at 12:02
  • Okay, I'll challenge you, even though I'm not the downvoter. In most American cities, you can go downtown, although Ngrams shows this isn't used much in British English. (You could also classify the word home in go home not as a noun but a directional adverb. You can go home, walk home, or head home, just the same way you go west, walk downstairs, or head downtown.) – Peter Shor Jan 03 '12 at 22:18
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    @PeterShor: "Downtown" is listed as an adverb (which is how I understand it in your example) as well as an adjective and a noun (Oxford Dictionaries Online). It doesn't exactly deviate from the rule that Barrie has given. As for "home", the same source lists it as an adverb, too. – Irene Jan 05 '12 at 12:55
  • @Irene: I shoiuld have been more explicit. I haved edited my answer to make it so. – Barrie England Jan 05 '12 at 13:05
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    Go fly a kite! – z7sg Ѫ Jan 05 '12 at 13:08
  • Sorry I haven't challenged this before, Barry – I've only just found it. I don't like the classification of 'home' when non-nounal as an intransitive preposition. However, 'Is John home yet?' argues strongly against the adverb classification. I stick with locative / directional particle. // The oddness of the behaviour of home is because there are essentially two words, 'home', and 'to/at-home' which has assumed the same form. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 17 '16 at 09:45