Path: news.nzbot.com!not-for-mail
From: Miss Elaine Eos <Misc@*your-shoes*PlayNaked.com>
Newsgroups: alt.languages.english
Subject: Re: a simple question
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2005 08:09:15 -0800
Organization: Very little. Maybe some on weekends.
Lines: 24
Message-ID: <Misc-31996E.08091504012005@individual.net>
References: <crdms7$1jhi$1@mail.cn99.com>
X-Trace: individual.net xszo476pGXJjuAzNzSupOwh9Vd9b8gmEc6YwHzesacGLY9+/Q8
X-Orig-Path: Misc
User-Agent: MT-NewsWatcher/3.3b1 (PPC Mac OS X)
Xref: news.nzbot.com alt.languages.english:505
In article <crdms7$1jhi$1@mail.cn99.com>, "Tom" <tom@wordhacker.com>
wrote:
> There are 2 birds _ the tree.
> in/on
> Which one should be filled in the blank?
>
Typical would be that they are "in" the tree, meaning "in and among the
branches and leaves." They would also be *on* a branch, meaning
standing on top of a branch. Interesting, the branch is also *on* the
tree, in this case meaning "attached to", similar to how an ornament is
hung *on* a Christmas tree.
Now *THAT'S* interesting! We say "look at all the birds in that tree",
but "look at all th ornaments on that tree."
No wonder English is such a difficult language! :)
--
Please take off your shoes before arriving at my in-box.
I will not, no matter how "good" the deal, patronise any business which sends
unsolicited commercial e-mail or that advertises in discussion newsgroups.
|
|