A common situation, the bedside table, strike on the bedside table

[Rachel Adams]

Should I use "a common situation" or "common situation", "a bedside table" or "the bedside table" and "strike"?

It's a common situation when people strike on the bedside table.

I mean when people hit their foot against/on the corner of the bedside table and it hurts very much. Would a native use "strike" and "stumble" in this context and "the bedside table" if they mention it for the first time?

 

[emsr2d2]

First, you need to know that "people strike on the bedside table" is wrong. We don't use "strike" when we're talking about walking into a table. At a push, you could say "when people strike their foot/toe against the corner of a table" but I don't really like it.

Also, "It's a common situation when" is clunky.

People often stub their toe on their bedside table.

 

[Rachel Adams]

Should it be "the bedside table" even if I mentioned it for the first time?

 

[emsr2d2]

I would use "their" as my first choice as it's the most common bedside table we're close enough to to stub our toes! My second choice would be "the" as we can take it that we're talking about our own specific bedside table.