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Thread: on the queue / in the queue / in queue

  1. #1
    milan2003_07's Avatar
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    Default on the queue / in the queue / in queue

    Hi,

    1) Where is your wife? - She is on the queue

    2) Where is your wife? - She is in the queue

    3) Where is your wife? - She is in/on queue

    Which options are idiomatic to speak about a person who is queuing (up)?

    Best

  2. #2
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    Default Re: on the queue / in the queue / in queue

    In British English, she is in the queue.
    milan2003_07, bhaisahab and anhnha like this.
    Context is important. Please provide enough for us to be able to deal effectively with your question.
    Your thread title should include all or part of the word/phrase being discussed.
    If you just want to know the meaning of a word, try OneLook Dictionary Search first.


  3. #3
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    Default Re: on the queue / in the queue / in queue

    Quote Originally Posted by 5jj View Post
    In British English, she is in the queue.
    Thanks. Do we use "the" even when speaking about queueing in general without mentioning a particular queue?

  4. #4
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    Default Re: on the queue / in the queue / in queue

    Quote Originally Posted by milan2003_07 View Post
    Thanks. Do we use "the" even when speaking about queueing in general without mentioning a particular queue?
    Well, if we don't know which queue she's in, we probably don't know she is in a queue.

    I suppose that if I lived in a city in which queuing for basic necessities was a part of normal life, I could say, "She's in a queue somewhere".
    Context is important. Please provide enough for us to be able to deal effectively with your question.
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    Default Re: on the queue / in the queue / in queue

    Or "She is queuing."
    charliedeut likes this.
    Remember - correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing make posts much easier to read.

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    Default Re: on the queue / in the queue / in queue

    That seems like a very valuable word in Scrabble.

    More to the point: Americans line up or stand in line. We rarely "queue" as people, though we talk about the print queue, or a computer job in the queue.
    billmcd and charliedeut like this.
    I'm not a teacher, but I write for a living. Please don't ask me about 2nd conditionals, but I'm a safe bet for what reads well in (American) English.

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