which one is correct?

Why do you go to hospital frequently?

I have had car accident ten years before which affected badly on my lungs

Or

I had car accident ten years before which affected badly on my lungs

Dear MRF

Here's my take on your question. Other readers of Antimoon may answer it differently; it is that every language has its own traffic signs and rules. The traffic rules of English say that you would have to say:

Why do you go to THE hospital frequently?

(BECAUSE) I HAD A car accident ten years AGO which affected my lungs BADLY.

The word order you were using bears a closer resemblance to the way they would say it in Russian or the Celtic languages.

The question, while not incorrect, seems affected. It would sound more natural if you put the emphasis on the frequency:

Why do you go to (the) hospital so frequently? (I feel comfortable without the definite article aswell)

Even better would be to ask depending on the actual situation:

Why are you going to the hospital so frequently (at the moment)?

This second version seems more idiomatic because it makes the question immediate and is easier to imagine as a spoken question.


As for the answer (nitpicking here) I would say:

I had a car accident ten years ago THAT badly affected my lungs.

There is a long running argument about the use of 'that' and 'which' and the neccesity of commas etc., but that has probably already been dealt with on the forum.

The change in word order is not needed but it is a style thing.

I wouldn't put the "the" in front of "hospital". Otherwise I'd agree with the above.

I think that in Britain they use "the" when they talk about hospitals but not in America.

My American dialect says that I go to the hospital.
Going "to hospital" sounds wrong.

i think "go the hospital" make sence in this context. it the same thing with "go to school". "go to hospital" for treatment or receive a service from it. Hospital usually provide treatment. But you go THE hospital to make interview so or visit a patient, am i correct.

I agree with putting "the" before hospital and as with D, my american accent is telling me this is correct. I've never heard anyone refer to "hospital" without putting "the" in front.

That's one of the differences between North American and Commonwealth English. To my Aussie ears saying "the hospital" would sound wrong unless you were refering speciffically to a particular hospital.

To use Brennus' analogy, whether to insert the "the" is not a matter of universal traffic rules. In North America you drive on the right whereas the rest of us drive on the left.

The traffic rules of North American English might insist that you would have to say "Why do you go to the hospital frequently?" but I don't drive that way. As he'd predicted other readers of Antimoon have answered it differently.