Abraham Lincoln’s face on the penny.

[diamondcutter]

If we want to say what we can see in a painting or picture, we use the preposition “in”. For example,
What a beautiful painting! There are many flowers in it.
We don’t use the preposition “on” because the flowers are not on the surface of the painting. They are just the content of the painting. But I read this sentence in a novel named Mr. Wacky Is Wacky! (by Dan Gutman):
Abraham Lincoln’s face on the peny.
Lincoln’s face image is also the content of the coin and not on the surface of it. I don’t quite understand why “on” is used not “in”.
And there’s another similar sentence in the book:
Benjamin Franklin is on the hundred-dollar bill.

 

[emsr2d2]

We say that things appear in a painting/picture/photo etc.
Paintings are created on a canvas.
With the penny and dollar examples, the images of Lincoln and Franklin are embossed on the metal and printed on the paper.

Note the correct spelling of "penny".

 

[Rover_KE]

Note that Americans commonly (if not invariably) call a cent a penny.

I'd be interested to know if other English-speaking people whose currency is the dollar also do this.

 

[diamondcutter]

Please read this dialogue by me.

--What’s the hundred-dollar bill like?
--You can see Benjamin Franklin’s face on/in it?

In this context, which preposition should I use? On or in?

 

[Skrej]

'On'.

With any kind of money (coin or paper) use 'on' when referring to the imagery, artwork, or writing.

.A more natural way to ask your question (when referring to US money) is "Who's on the X", where X is the particular bill denomination.

Aside from the denomination, US paper currency looks pretty much the same, except for the difference in portraiture and architecture displayed on the front and back. All denominations are the same size and color. Nobody really pays any attention to what building is shown on the back side - we only focus on whose face is on the front.

I could probably tell you whose face is on any particular bill, but I couldn't begin to tell you what building is on the back of any single bill.

 

[diamondcutter]

What about these two sentences? Should I choose “on” for both of them?

1. The number on/in the bill tells its denomination.

2. We can see “In God we trust” on/in the bill.

 

[tedmc]

"On" for something that's printed on the surface.

 

[diamondcutter]

But we say "an article in a newspaper" although the article is printed on the newspaper, don't we?

 

[tedmc]

But we say "an article in a newspaper" although the article is printed on the newspaper, don't we?

An article in a newspaper.
We are talking about the contents, with the article being part of the newspaper.

Lincoln's face on a penny or a dollar note
We are talking about physical appearance - the printing/imprint on the note/coin.

 

[Skrej]

What about these two sentences? Should I choose “on” for both of them?

1. The number on/in the bill tells its denomination.
2. We can see “In God we trust” on/in the bill.

I repeat myself:

With any kind of money (coin or paper) use 'on' when referring to the imagery, artwork, or writing.

But we say "an article in a newspaper" although the article is printed on the newspaper, don't we?

A newspaper is not money. My guideline above doesn't apply outside of money.

However, you will see 'on' with regards to newspaper headlines - just not the articles contained within. In that case, we're treating the entire paper as one thing with an exterior label - like a label on a box or envelope. Once you start to read what's contained "inside" the paper, we consider the content (such as articles) 'in' the paper.

 

[Glizdka]

You're asking a really good question, diamondcutter. In my opinion, in is appropriate when you want to talk about the content; on is appropriate when you want to talk about the surface.

A book is more than just pages and ink. It's a story, a thought, an idea. If you want to talk about the book's content, use in.

"You can find a lot of interesting stories in this book."

A painting is more than just some paint on a canvas. It's a piece of art, a message, inspiration. If you want to talk about what the artist wanted to express, use in.

"The mountains in this picture look very realistic."

A coin is simply a metal token used for exchanging goods and services. Its content is its value, not the artwork it's decorated with, or at least its content is the value we believe it possesses, not the value of the material it's made from, since that's how fiat money works. The same goes for bills too.

"Because George Washington was the first American president, it's only fair his face is on a one-dollar bill."

An interesting thing happens when you want to talk about the surface of a painting. Perhaps the painting was meant to show something, but it was later vandalized by someone else.

"There was a beautiful girl in this picture, but you can't really see her now because someone's drawn a weenie on it right where she was."

 

[probus]

Note that Americans commonly (if not invariably) call a cent a penny.

I'd be interested to know if other English-speaking people whose currency is the dollar also do this.

We in Canada used to call our one cent coins pennies. But the Royal Canadian Mint told us it was costing them 1.5 cents to make each penny so they melted them all down. The USA still clings to its copper pennies, and when we had our house in Florida we'd hoard them up and bring them home to sell to the scrap metal dealers.

 

[jutfrank]

I'm a bit late to this thread but I'll restate what's been said above.

on means that there is a surface. With coins, the images are 'on' the coin because we conceive of them as being embossed on a surface.

in means there is a frame of some kind. With pictures and paintings, we say an image is 'in' the picture because it exists within a framed space as content.

Post #11 has given you a good explanation of the difference in meaning between on a painting and in a painting.

 

[diamondcutter]

What about the cover of a book? Do we also use “on” to talk about the content printed on the cover and words written on the cover? Do I use the preposition "on" correctly in the following dialogues?

Dialogue 1:
A: Whose book is this?
B: Let me see. There’s a name on the cover. Oh, it’s Tom’s.

Dialogue 2:
A: What’s the book about?
B: Look for yourself. It has a title on its cover.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, we use "on the cover" as well as "on the first page", "on page 27" etc.
However, we would use "inside the front/back cover" and we would say "I saw it in the book".