take a/the bus

Hello, native English speakers,
I've started to teach English in high school that is different from the one where I taught in the last school year.

Which would be possiblel?
(a) I usually go to school by bus.
(b) I usually take a bus to school.
(c) I usually take the bus to school.
(d) I usually go to school taking a bus.
(e) I usually go to school taking the bus.

Thanks in advance.
Hirashin

A, B, and C are all very common and natural.
D and E are unnatural. While there is nothing grammatically incorrect about D or E, the construction of those sentences seems unusual to me - almost like the person is saying "I go to school while at the same time I take the bus". I much prefer A, B, or C.

Good luck in the new school!

I agree with his majesty...

D and E can be improved by adding "by":

(d) I usually go to school by taking a bus.
(e) I usually go to school by taking the bus.


(And too bad, @hirashin that you didn't use train instead of bus. Then (at least on paper) you could have the a:

hirashin said:

Which would be possiblel?

(b) I usually take a bus to school.
(c) I usually take the bus to school.

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I think these are the most normal ones. I think that in general, in America at least, if you take the 'school bus' (usually bright yellow, provided for free by the school district) then you would use (c) exclusively. (There's a strong sense of uniqueness to 'the' bus that comes once a day to pick up schoolchildren from 'the' neighborhood.) This is the most common situation in most of America.

If you take a regular transit system bus, then you could use either. There's some sense of uniqueness that you are taking 'the #52 bus' (or whatever route it is), but on the other hand there are likely many busses running the same route every day and may even be alternate routes so it's a weaker sense and 'a' is fine as well. (This happens in some areas with good transit systems where the school district provides transit passes instead of a bus service.)

Hirashin - hope the teaching is more enjoyable at your new school. Best of luck.

Thank you all for your help and encouraging comments.

I am supposed to teach the 10th and 11th graders (Koukou 1 nensei and 2 nensei). So far I have taught the 11th graders only.

Though some students are really bad at English and reluctant to learn it, most students seem to be interested in the language. When I explain how to pronounce each word in a detailed way, they pay attention to me and start pronouncing. Toward the end of my first lesson, I heard a female student say "Omoshiroi!" (Interesting!). I suppose that most of them have not been taught how to pronounce each English word in a detailed way.

The textbook that I am told to use is too difficult for most students. So I've decided to use different materials as much as possible. That would be more interesting and helpful to them.

Would you correct my English if needed? Thank you.

Hirashin

hirashin said:

The textbook that I am told to use is too difficult for most students. So I've decided to use different materials as much as possible. That would be more interesting and helpful to them.

Would you correct my English if needed? Thank you.

Hirashin

Click to expand...

Good on you! We'll do what we can to help.