Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010

I get the feeling that a caregiver is seeing to the mission of getting
people to their appointments.

Children are packed off to school, for example, husbands sent off to
work, and here, this proto-patient is being ushered out the door to go
to the doctor.

The "sending off" indicates they can get there without the sender's
further attention or guidance (although, one worries, perhaps the
Alzheimer's sufferer might NOT get where he is sent off to).

Lazypierrot <lazypierrot@gmail.com> wrote in news:d86dfe03-3158-4892-933e-
36381848a129@l30g2000yqb.googlegroups.com:

'She sent him to the doctor' is rather more peremptory (brusque, imperious,
authoritarian) than 'she sent him off to the doctor', which is rather
breezy (relaxed, informal, cheerily brisk). A doctor would send him to
hospital. I might say 'I sent my child to the doctor', but 'I sent my wife
to the doctor' makes me sound rather domineering. On the other hand, if I
had been extremely worried about her I WOULD say 'I sent her to the
doctor', the breezy 'off' being out-of-place.

'The judge sent him to prison' is normal. 'The judge sent him off to
prison' suggests that the crime was quite trivial. 'The judge sent him off
to the guillotine' is facetious: it's amusing because it's too breezy.

Peter

ONe normally sends a child off to camp, or someone off to the army,
fairly far away.    To send someone off to the doctor would mean
something but I ddon't know what.