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, 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

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