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Thread: I was swimming "on" the lake.
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#1 30-Oct-2020, 06:41I was swimming "on" the lake.
1. I was swimming on Lake Windermere. (A Student's Grammar of the English Language, by Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk, page 192)
2. I was swimming on the lake. (My sentence.)
Is #2 acceptable to native speakers?I need native speakers' help.
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#2 30-Oct-2020, 07:15Re: I was swimming "on" the lake.
Typoman - writer of rongs
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#3 30-Oct-2020, 08:35Re: I was swimming "on" the lake.
In what year was that book published?
Originally Posted by sitifan
Remember - if you don't use correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing, anything you write will be incorrect.
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#4 30-Oct-2020, 08:47Re: I was swimming "on" the lake.
"On" means "on top of", so skating is possible on the lake, not swimming.
I am not a teacher or a native speaker.
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#5 30-Oct-2020, 09:04Re: I was swimming "on" the lake.
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. It would be interesting to know what Greenbaum and Quirk said about the original sentence.
Typoman - writer of rongs
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#6 30-Oct-2020, 12:15Re: I was swimming "on" the lake.
1990. Originally Posted by emsr2d2
https://books.google.com.tw/books/ab...AJ&redir_esc=yI need native speakers' help.
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#7 30-Oct-2020, 12:27Re: I was swimming "on" the lake.
What is the context of the sample sentence? I find it hard to believe that Greenbaum and Quirk say it's good English.
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#8 30-Oct-2020, 13:11Re: I was swimming "on" the lake.
I can see no attribution of the authorship of that screed – let alone the names of the distinguished grammarians you mention.
Among other errors, we read
To who (sic) did you sell your house? (formal).
I've never lived Lincoln.
Where places are regarded as pints (sic) on a route or as institution (sic) to which ones (sic) is attached ...Last edited by Rover_KE; 30-Oct-2020 at 13:27.
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#9 30-Oct-2020, 13:39Re: I was swimming "on" the lake.
[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.
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 water?
In the second & third sentences, why do we use on (the dimension type
1) and in (the dimension type 3) in front of the same word "bed"
https://groups.google.com/g/alt.usag.../c/zPmabI9p7DUI need native speakers' help.
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#10 30-Oct-2020, 15:53Re: I was swimming "on" the lake.
I agree that it's a poor example, but the idea of I was swimming on Lake Windermere is to illustrate the use of the preposition on as a dimension-type 2 preposition. That is, Lake Windermere is seen as two-dimensional surface.
Replacing Lake Windermere with the lake produces no change of meaning.
A better example would be: I was sailing on Lake Windermere.
