be seated vs sit

[juliana2]

what's the difference between "can be seated and can sit"? can you tell why the sentence " this van is very big. ten people can sit in it comfortably" is incorrect? thank you:shock:

 

[ieltsonly]

what's the difference between "can be seated and can sit"? can you tell why the sentence " this van is very big. ten people can sit in it comfortably" is incorrect? thank you:shock:

Who told you that this sentence is incorrect?

If you say can be seated, the idea is that you (the driver?) chooses who sits where and can sit just refers to 10 people sitting in the van.

The expression please be seated is a more formal way of saying sit down.

I hope this helps.
Stephen
ieltsonly.co.uk

 

[TheParser]

what's the difference between "can be seated and can sit"? can you tell why the sentence " this van is very big. ten people can sit in it comfortably" is incorrect? thank you:shock:

***** NOT ***** A ***** TEACHER *****


Juliana,


I am pretty sure (quite sure) that here in the United States,

we can say:

This van/room sits 10 people.


THANK YOU

 

[bhaisahab]

***** NOT ***** A ***** TEACHER *****


Juliana,


I am pretty sure (quite sure) that here in the United States,

we can say:

This van/room sits 10 people.


THANK YOU

In BrE we say, This van/room seats 10 people.

 

[TheParser]

In BrE we say, This van/room seats 10 people.

***** NOT A TEACHER !!! *****


Mr. Moderator,

Thank you for your note.

(1) It is a good idea that this website requires non-teachers like me to

state that fact.

(2) After reading your post, I checked 8 American dictionaries. They

mostly recommend to seat.

(3) Here are two examples of to sit:

Our dining room table sits 6 persons.

The car will sit 4 persons.

My brother suggested something that I had never considered

before: size seems to play a factor. A relatively small thing

such as a table or car may take "sit," but apparently anything

large needs "seat." From my dictionaries:

We can seat 300 people./A theater seats 2100 people.

(4) Probably learners would be well-advised to use "seat" for

all sentences.

(5) It would be great to get input from other Americans.

THANK YOU

 

[e2e4]

Is it possible to say

This van's very big. Ten people can have a seat in it.

Thanks

 

[Munch]

Is it possible to say

This van's very big. Ten people can have a seat in it.

Thanks

Grammatically correct but very unnatural.

We say "have a seat" when we are asking someone to sit down.

It seats ten (people).
It has ten seats.

There are many more options.