He likes to walk in streets? Or He likes to walk on streets? Which one is correct?

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NewHopeR

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Each with million-hit supports in Google search.
 

Raymott

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Each with million-hit supports in Google search.
Neither is natural English. "He likes to walk along the street."

By the way, I get 0 Google hits for "He likes to walk in streets" and 1 hit for "He likes to walk on streets". What string are you actually searching for, and are you enclosing them in quotes? Are any of your hits from native English sites?
 

probus

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AmE strongly tends to prefer on with street, and BrE in.

on the streets = in the streets
in the high street = on the main road

There's a huge number of natural usages that follow the above rule. But walk in/on streets is not natural. Your can walk in a street or on a street, but the plural does not work. And walk along a street is best.
 
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NewHopeR

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Neither is natural English. "He likes to walk along the street."

By the way, I get 0 Google hits for "He likes to walk in streets" and 1 hit for "He likes to walk on streets". What string are you actually searching for, and are you enclosing them in quotes? Are any of your hits from native English sites?

2,110,000 hits for "in streets"
4,150,000 hits for "on streets"

"Along the street" sounds like "along a particular street and no other street that he will walk in." But what the author wanted to express is that "he likes to walk along any street that his feet lead him."
 

Raymott

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2,110,000 hits for "in streets"
4,150,000 hits for "on streets"

"Along the street" sounds like "along a particular street and no other street that he will walk in." But what the author wanted to express is that "he likes to walk along any street that his feet lead him."
Exactly. Please don't use Google to justify phrases you haven't even looked up! It's bad enough when people justify using phrases that they do find on Google simply because they are on Google.
Yes, "along the street" might sound like it means a particular street, but it doesn't.
 

probus

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Absolutely agree with Raymott. You will not find that google helps you to learn English.
 

Raymott

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Absolutely agree with Raymott. You will not find that google helps you to learn English.
I'd qualify that. You should be able to use it negatively, ie. the fact that "He likes to walk in streets" receives 0 hits means it might not be a good English phrase/sentence, but even that is not reliable. You can also start with a phrase like "in the streets", and then check good native English sites, such as .gov. edu. etc. where you're more likely to get good native English. But a pure positive count with no further research means nothing.
 

Rover_KE

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There's also the expression 'to walk the streets'.

'I spend hours walking the streets of an evening before going to bed'. [Just don't call me a streetwalker — that's a (rather dated) word for a prostitute.]

'Have you seen the old girl who walks the streets of London?' (Beatles)

Rover
 

SoothingDave

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Yes, I also would use "walk the streets." He likes to walk the streets at night. Though it can imply a sense of aimlessness.
 
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