We “go” to lots of things that aren’t places. Im going to prove it with this sentence.
In English, ‘go to’ can be used as the future subjunctive tense of the verb being conjugated.
Sounds fancy. I hope it’s not expensive to use.
I’m going to go to sleep.
Double going!
Let’s not go off the rails.
Different usage. You wouldn’t tell someone “Go to prove.” Are there any examples of “Go to [word].” where the [word] is not a physical place?
Yes. We regularly say “go to [verb]”.
Go to eat
Go to learn
Go to exerciseSaying “go to sleep” is exectly the same.
Not exactly. Compare being told “Go to sleep!” with “Go to eat!” “Go to learn!” “Go to exercise!” It makes sense grammatically, but nobody says it like that. They sound like something a non-native speaker would say.
It is grammatically correct to use them. It’s the same rule. We’re just used to using/hearing one but not the others.
Yes, I said it was grammatically correct. However, one phrase is actually used by native speakers of the language, the others are not. So there is a difference.
Not many… Heres what i came up with though:
Go to great lengths
Go to extremes
Go to bat for something
Go to town on somethingStill different usages because they require more words to make sense. “Go to sleep” is a weird figure of speech.
Now you’re moving the goalposts :p
I agree it is a rare structure.
No, I’m not. Notice the period. That was very deliberate.
Are there any examples of “Go to [word].”
I edited my original post, but what about “go to extremes” ?
That one’s better!
you don’t go places when you sleep?
As a stress sleepwalker, yes I do.
In Dutch “go” means to go do a thing as well and I use it English in a similar fashion. Never thought of it weird before
If you have trouble going to sleep then try falling asleep instead.
Well then take a piss.
Go poop.
I’d rather leave a piss.
The word “go” has lots of meanings besides physically moving to a place. It also means to change state (“the milk went bad”, “he’ll go crazy when he finds out”) and to indicate immediate future tense (“I’m going to read this book now”). Not to mention some other less relevant uses.
Yeah I think it’s going to make me go insane
I’m 90% sure that it was originally in the form of “to go <there/place> and <verb>” and has just been shortened over time. A refined colloquialism, if you go for that sort of thing
It’s a state.
Tel’aran’rhiod
Instructions unclear, summoned Cthulhu.
I’m going to go, to my bed, to sleep.
Naw, just a state of mind.
The Dreaming
One night my daughter asked me, “Where is dreamland?” I explained that it’s a made-up place you think of while you’re asleep, and how everyone has their own. Little kids take things so literally, when we talked about “going to dreamland” at bedtime she probably wondered if it was an actual place she went somehow - but where could it be? Great question.
I think I believed that for a time when I was a kid, that dreamland was a physical place people went to when sleeping
