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   Hi, Ardith Hinton!   
   I read your message from 30.08.2025 23:56   
      
    AK>> In the translation of Jules Verne's "The Voyages and Adventures of   
    AK>> Captain Hatteras" (project Gutenberg) there are these "table"   
    AK>> sentences:   
      
    AK>>> ----- Beginning of the citation -----   
    AK>>> Hatteras unfolded on the table one of the excellent charts   
    AK>>> published in 1859 by the order of the Admiralty.   
      
    AK>>> ..."Here is the chart of the Polar Seas," resumed the doctor, who   
    AK>>> had brought it to the table;   
      
    AK>>> ... Johnson and Bell had a good supper awaiting them. But before   
    AK>>> they sat down to table, the doctor said in a voice of triumph, as   
    AK>>> he pointed to his two companions,   
    AK>> ----- The end of the citation -----   
      
    AK>> Can you say a formal excuse why "table" in the last sentence is   
    AK>> used without any article?   
      
      
    AH> My OXFORD CANADIAN DICTIONARY lists "at table" but not "to table".   
      
      
    AH> THE FREE DICTIONARY tells me how to translate "at table " &   
    AH> to "table" into Spanish, but offers no explanation of the sort you   
    AH> 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   
      
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