At the age of seventeen he went to sea for the first time

2. The nouns school, hospital, church, etc.

The nouns school, class, college, university, hospital, church, jail, prison, bed, table are used without article when they denote activities associated with these places.

Remember: to be in (to go to) hospital / class / church / prison / bed; to be at school / college / table; to come from school / college / university / church; to come out of hospital / prison; to leave school / college; to stay in bed.

Compare the use of articles in the examples below.

He is ill, he is in hospital. This man works at a hospital.

After school he went to college. He is somewhere in the college now.

Every Sunday their family used to go to church. The tourists went into the church to see the ancient frescoes.

3. The noun town

The noun town takes no article when it is used in contrast with country or when the business centre is meant:

He went to town every morning and returned to his house in the suburbs only in the evening.

Remember: to be in town, to be out of town, to live in town, to stay in town, to go to town, to come back to town, to return to town, to leave town.

4. The nouns radio and television

- The nouns radio and television take no article if used in general sense:

Radio and television are important means of mass communication.

- The noun radio takes the definite article after the verbs to listen and to hear:

You can hear the news on the radio. I usually listen to the radio on my way to college.

Remember: to watch television (TV), to see on television, to show on television, e.g.

Did you see the show on TV yesterday?

EXPRESSIONS TO REMEMBER
play the piano / the violin / the guitar, play the blues	play football, tennis, hockey, cards
(go, come, leave, travel) by train, plane, bus, boat, by air, by land, by sea
by post, by mail, by phone, by telegraph, by hand, by accident, by sight, by chance, by mistake
on deck, on foot, on leave, on holiday, on vacation
at hand, at rest, at table
in detail, in person, in debt, in mind, in turn	in the original, in the least
(go to, to be at, to be on at) the cinema, the pictures, the movies, the theatre
a bit of, in a hurry, in a low voice, as a result, at a glance
make a start, do a turn, have a mind to do sth., have a good time, be at a loss, get in a fury, fly into a passion, fly into a rage, take a fancy to, tell a lie
on the coast, on the one hand… on the other hand, on the whole, in the black, off the record, pay through the nose, out of the blue, out of the question,
to take the trouble, to tell the truth, to be on the safe side
at present, at first sight, at peace, in action, out of action, out of doors, for ages, to keep house, to be in bed, to go to bed, to come to power

USE OF ARTICLES WITH PROPER NOUNS

ARTICLES WITH PERSONAL NAMES

Personal names are generally used without any articles:

Do you know Jane?

I've read a lot of books by Mark Twain.

Note: The common nouns mother, father, aunt, uncle, sister, brother, cousin, daughter, etc. can be treated as proper nouns and take no article when used by members of the family or close friends:

Father decided to take a holiday.

Will you help me, Uncle?

As proper nouns they are spelled with a capital letter.

The definite article is used with personal names in the plural to indicate a whole family:

The Browns have a cottage in the suburbs of London.

The indefinite article is used with personal names to denote a representative of a family or one resembling somebody: