I was swimming "on" the lake.

[jutfrank]

1) I was swimming on Lake Windermere.

In the first sentence, why do we use on (the dimension type 1
preposition ) in that sentence in spite of swimming surrounded water?

It's actually a dimension-type 2 preposition in this particular example, not type 1. The idea is not that I was surrounded by water, but that I was attached to the lake's surface.

[jutfrank]

If you think of 'on Lake X' as your location, it is possible to 'swim/walk/etc on Lake X'. I don't recommend that learners use this, but i would not say it was not possible.

You can of course walk/sail/skate on a lake.

The problem here seems to be that when we imagine swimming, we tend to think of the body as partially submerged.

[emsr2d2]

[email protected]
Jul 31, 1999, 3:00:00 PM

I read the following items in the "A Student's Grammar of the English Language" by Sidney Greenbaum, Randolph Quirk. Please explain answer the following questions in detail.

1) I was swimming on Lake Windermere.
2) I'll lie on the bed for a few minutes.
3) There was a child asleep in the bed.

In the first sentence, why do we use "on" (the dimension type 1 preposition) in that sentence in spite of swimming surrounded by water?
In the second & and third sentences, why do we use "on" (the dimension type 1) and "in" (the dimension type 3) in front of before the same word "the bed"?

[Hyperlink pointless as it requires the reader to log in to their Google account.]

I'm not sure quite what's going on here. Did you quote a 21-year-old question from a random person who happened to claim that those sentences came from that book? As you can see, the post needed multiple corrections.

You'll find several threads, some quite recent, about the difference between "in bed", "in the bed" and "on the bed". We're not going to discuss them again here.
All I can say about sentence 1 is that, except for Piscean's explanation earlier in the thread, it's unnatural.

[kadioguy]

[email protected]
Jul 31, 1999, 3:00:00 PM

I read the following items in the " A student's grammar of the English
language" by Sidney Greenbaum, Randolph Quirk. Please explain the
following questions in detail.
1) I was swimming on Lake Windermere.

I am sorry but that person made a mistake.

(Quoted from A Student's Grammar of the English Language, p. 191 )

[sitifan]

[kadioguy]

I went to the library to consult the book this morning. I have taken three pictures (see post #15). I am afraid that you were wrong.

I am afraid that that is a typo in your version of the book. Considering the explanation above, the "on" doesn't make sense here.

[Piscean]

This edition gives 'in': https://archive.org/details/AStudent...p?q=Windermere