"in" or "on"?

Dear teachers,


It is bounded on the southeast by the South China Sea.

I think the correct prep. should be in. Is that right?

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

Please use a larger font and tell us what 'it' refers to.

Rover

Hi Rover,

Thank you very much for your reply.
"It" refers to "a country".

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance,

Jiang

Rover_KE said:

Please use a larger font and tell us what 'it' refers to.

Rover

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jiang said:

Dear teachers,

It is bounded on the southeast by the South China Sea.

I think the correct prep. should be in. Is that right?

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No. The original "on" is correct.

Not a teacher - AmE native

Hi allenman,

Could you please explain why "on" is correct? Or why "in" isn't correct?

Looking forward to haring from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

allenman said:

No. The original "on" is correct.

Not a teacher - AmE native

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jiang said:

Hi allenman,

Could you please explain why "on" is correct? Or why "in" isn't correct?
There is no explanation. That's English.
Looking forward to haring from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

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Many nouns, verbs and adjectives are used with particlar prepositions: we say congratulations on, arrive at, angry with somebody, on a bus. There are not many rules to help you choose correctly in these cases, so you have to learn each expression separately. (Practical English Usage, Michael Swan)

Hi riquecohen,

Thank you so much for your explanation. I got confused because in the following sentence in Longman Dictionary "in" is used:

The US is bounded in the north by Canada and in the south by Mexico.

Could you please kindly explain that?

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.

Jiang

riquecohen said:

Many nouns, verbs and adjectives are used with particlar prepositions: we say congratulations on, arrive at, angry with somebody, on a bus. There are not many rules to help you choose correctly in these cases, so you have to learn each expression separately. (Practical English Usage, Michael Swan)

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I would be very pleased if a BrE-speaker responded to Jiang's last question. Is there a difference here between AmE and BrE?

For me, using is bounded doesn't sound very natural- I don't know about other BrE speakers.

Dear Tdol,

Thank you very much for your reply. What about "in" and "on"?

Also I have a long list of "friends" but only two are shown.

Jiang

Tdol said:

For me, using is bounded doesn't sound very natural- I don't know about other BrE speakers.

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jiang said:

Thank you very much for your reply. What about "in" and "on"?

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Jiang, you appear to be trying to get a definitive answer; there isn't one. Tdol and I would not use 'bounded' at all here, though some people would. You don't say whether this is a Longman dictionary of British or American English.

As to the preposition, if you are going to use 'bounded', 'on' and 'to' seem more natural to me than 'in', but 'in' is not impossible. As riquecohen explained, there are not many rules about prepositions

Also I have a long list of "friends" but only two are shown.

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Sorry, I don't understand this.

I don't think "is bounded" sounds correct either which is why it's difficult to then choose an appropriate preposition.

"It is bordered" sounds better and if that were the case, I would follow it with "to".

America is bordered to the north by Canada and to the south by Mexico.

(Sorry about my geography!)

jiang said:

Also I have a long list of "friends" but only two are shown.

Jiang

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Hi, Jiang. This belongs in the Support Area forum. You might want to start another thread there.

emsr2d2 said:

I don't think "is bounded" sounds correct either which is why it's difficult to then choose an appropriate preposition.

"It is bordered" sounds better and if that were the case, I would follow it with "to".

America is bordered to the north by Canada and to the south by Mexico.

(Sorry about my geography!)

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Your geography is fine, though some would take exception to calling the U.S. "America."
I have no problem with the collocation "is bounded on," nor, it seems, did allenman, another AmE-speaker, in post #4. Could this just be another Am/BrE difference?

jiang said:

Dear Tdol,

Thank you very much for your reply. What about "in" and "on"?

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As I wouldn't use the term, it's hard to say which collocates better. It is not something I have ever used, so I can't say. I would use is bordered or has/shares a border. I think this may well be an AmE/BrE difference.

jiang said:

Also I have a long list of "friends" but only two are shown.

Jiang

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Could you post this in the support area for the webmaster to look into please? May thanks.