[General] (American English) on/in the street

[sitifan]

e.g. Little traffic was to be seen on the streets ... (Cobuild Wordbank)
e.g. There are very few cars on this street. (Cobuild Wordbank)
http://english-compass.blogspot.com/2014/09/in-streeton-street.html
Are the above sentences acceptable to American speakers?

 

[Tarheel]

Re: (American English) on the street

Possibilities:

little traffic
light traffic
much traffic
heavy traffic
sparse traffic

many cars
very many cars
few cars
very few cars

 

[sitifan]

Re: (American English) on the street

According to what I have learned about American English, in the street is where people drive, but on the street is alongside the street on either side.
[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]Are the sentences below acceptable to American speakers?[/FONT]

e.g. Little traffic was to be seen on the streets ... (Cobuild Wordbank)
e.g. There are very few cars on this street. (Cobuild Wordbank)
http://english-compass.blogspot.com/...on-street.html
​

​

 

[GoesStation]

e.g. Little traffic was to be seen on the streets ... (Cobuild Wordbank)
e.g. There are very few cars on this street. (Cobuild Wordbank)
http://english-compass.blogspot.com/2014/09/in-streeton-street.html
Are the above sentences acceptable to American speakers?

Yes.

 

[Tarheel]

Re: (American English) on the street

Sorry. My mistake. In my opinion both of your sentences are acceptable in American English. As for the difference between on the street and in the street, on the street is, I think, used more broadly. For example, I could be on the street (I'm walking down the street) but not be in the street (in the middle of the street--where the vehicular traffic is to be found).

In addition, on the street is sometimes used metaphorically, specifically when talking about Wall Street. (The phrase on the street here has to do with the NYSE.)

(Cross posted)

 

[sitifan]

Re: (American English) on the street

1. Little traffic was to be seen on the streets.

2. There are very few cars on this street.
​

​

3. Little traffic was to be seen in the streets.

4. There are very few cars in this street.
​

#1 and #2 are acceptable to American speakers.
Are #3 and #4 also acceptable to American speakers?​

​

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: (American English) on the street

When talking about traffic, BrE usually uses "on the roads". For example, "There will probably be a lot of cars on the roads on Monday because it's a Bank Holiday", or "I love driving on Christmas Day. There's hardly a soul on the roads".

 

[Tarheel]

Re: (American English) on the street

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]

There are very few cars on/in this street. (American English)
​

[SUB][SUP]
[/SUP][/SUB][/FONT]

There are very few cars in this street. (British English)

Am I right?

​

I'm afraid I can't help you much. I would say:

There's not much traffic on [name of street]. Example:

Abe: There's not much traffic on South Blvd. right now.
Bob: Good! That means I won't have to wait fifteen minutes before I can cross the street.

 

[GoesStation]

Re: (American English) on the street

In addition, on the Street is sometimes used metaphorically, specifically when talking about Wall Street.

See above. As a proper noun, Street has to be capitalized in this context.

 

[sitifan]

"In the street" means "inside the boundaries of the street," while "on the
street" means "along the sides of the street."

This shows "in the street":

-----------------------------
X X X X
-----------------------------

This shows "on the street":

X X X X
-----------------------------

-----------------------------
X X X X

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dennis Oliver
Estrella Mountain Community College
Avondale, Arizona U.S.A.