why is it that we can structure a sentence like “I’m in school” but not “I’m in nightclub”?

Question

Some nouns have to have “the” before it but seems like not all of them need it, so any explanations would be helpful!

edit: wow, didn’t expect so much traction on this. Thank you for your explanations! Interestingly, I’m actually a native English speaker but don’t really know grammar terminology all that well. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

In: 1233

Answer 1

School has two flavors, nightclub doesnt

In the school means you are in the building – you could be student, a janitor, a visitor, or just some schmoe who likes to walk around schools

In school means you are a student in some scholastic endeavor.

Nightclub is only a physical location so In the nightclub is appropriate.