Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith.org Forums General Topics Q&A about words Another question!
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
The more I think about this the less I understand it. Except that I would have used 'in' (suspect there is a British link here!) in the original sentence.
As for Mav's examples:
1. "Two cars and a bus collided in the High Street today"
2. "Two cars and a bus collided on the M4 today"
I can (just!) imagine "Two cars and a bus collided on the High Street today" but "Two cars and a bus collided in the M4 today" creates an alarming mental picture of all the vehicles ploughing into the road surface itself.
Why is one substitution possible and not the other? Is the M4 (and other motorways like it) a special case because it is so big it is not merely a road but a geographic feature? Possibly - I have the same reaction to "a crash in the Appian Way"...
3. "Seventeen shops in central Croydon closed last year"
4. "Seventeen shops on Pembury Hill closed last year"
in a town, on a hill (and if Pembury Hill is the name of the town, in can be substituted without problem.
Not sure these are really relevant to the initial problem which seems to be about location relevant to roads.
5. “The car was standing at the corner outside Woolworths”
6. “The woman was standing on the corner outside Woolworths”
"On the corner" seems to me to imply a location behind the kerb/curb (I was going to say on the pavement/sidewalk, but as a building can also be on a corner, it goes further back than that.)
"At the corner" is vaguer - could refer to vehicles on the roadway itself, people or things on the pavement or buildings set back from the pavement.
Which really messes up any theory I have as when I started this post my basic theory was 'on' for big roads that double as huge vague locations, 'on' or 'in' for smaller roads with more specific locations and 'at' for specific detailed locations such as where two roads meet. And now 'on' has snuck up in an evem more specific meaning...
..I remember why I stopped coming here. It does my head in...
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted Another question! JessCC 04/26/02 07:28 AM Re: Another question! jmh 04/26/02 07:47 AM Re: Another question! maverick 04/26/02 08:49 AM Re: Another question! Keiva 04/26/02 10:45 AM Re: Another question! dxb 04/26/02 04:08 PM Re: Another question! maverick 04/27/02 12:12 AM Re: Another question! Bridget 04/27/02 11:13 AM Re: Another question! dxb 04/27/02 06:34 PM Re: Another question! Jazzoctopus 04/27/02 09:32 PM Re: Another question! maverick 04/27/02 10:46 PM Re: Another question! of troy 04/27/02 11:03 PM Re: Another question! Bridget 04/28/02 10:27 AM Re: Another question! Bingley 04/26/02 09:01 AM Re: Another question! maverick 04/26/02 09:15 AM Re: Another question! Faldage 04/26/02 10:03 AM Re: 9-letter word AnnaStrophic 04/26/02 06:24 PM Re: Another question! ladymoon 04/27/02 04:16 AM Re: Another question! JessCC 04/27/02 12:42 PM Re: schlemiel wwh 04/27/02 12:52 PM Re: Another question!At, On, In wow 04/27/02 03:29 PM
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics Forums16Topics13,913Posts229,386Members9,182 Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV
9,182 Registered Users
Who's Online Now 0 members (), 790 guests, and 3 robots. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 27
Top Posters wwh 13,858Faldage 13,803Jackie 11,613wofahulicodoc 10,570tsuwm 10,542LukeJavan8 9,920Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210AnnaStrophic 6,511Wordwind 6,296of troy 5,400
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith.org