He came across some of his old love letters in/on his wife's desk.

[Ashraful Haque]

"He came across some of his old love letters in his wife's desk."
"I came across an old diary in her desk."

Google doc is marking 'in her desk' in both the sentences incorrect and the autosuggestion is suggesting me to use 'on' instead. I'm a little confused because even though it's just an AI, it's supposed to one of the best out there.

Is 'in' used to mean inside a drawer of a desk?

If that's the case, I wonder why the AI can't detect something this simple.

 

[emsr2d2]

There's nothing really wrong with "in ... desk". We would take it to mean that the desk had a drawer and the documents mentioned were in the drawer. However, it would be clearer to say "in her desk drawer". Otherwise, the reader/listener might think you've made a mistake and you actually meant "on her desk".

 

[Kontol]

There's nothing really wrong with "in ... desk". We would take it to mean that the desk had a drawer and the documents mentioned were in the drawer.

What is the difference if I say "we will take it to mean that ...?"

 

[Tarheel]

@Kontol Why would you say that?

 

[emsr2d2]

What is the difference if I say "we will take it to mean that ..."?

The difference is that it would be less natural. I used it to mean "If we saw that sentence, we would take it to mean that ...".

 

[Ashraful Haque]

There's nothing really wrong with "in ... desk". We would take it to mean that the desk had a drawer and the documents mentioned were in the drawer. However, it would be clearer to say "in her desk drawer". Otherwise, the reader/listener might think you've made a mistake and you actually meant "on her desk".

I actually found both the sentences in a dictionary. Is it wrong to say 'in the desk' without any further context?

 

[SoothingDave]

No. It would mean they were in the desk, with some sort of drawer or cabinet understood.