go into a skid

[milan2003_07]

Hello,

When driving a car it can sometimes happen (at the turns, for example, if a road is slippery and the speed is high) that the car uncontrollably starts moving and for some time (usually some seconds) the car doesn't to the steering wheel.

I've found on the Internet the expression "the car goes into a skid". Is it the correct one?

Some of my own sentences (please, correct if necessary):

"I was driving along the street and then turned left in the direction of the bridge and my car suddenly went into a skid and I got scared"
"My car sometimes goes into a skid as I'm still an inexperienced driver at the moment"
"Cars can go into a skid when the road is slippery and there is lack of light in the street to see the road clearly"
"If you go into a skid, do not do any abrupt things or motions"

Thanks

 

[emsr2d2]

Hello.

When driving a car it can sometimes happen (at the on turns, for example, if a road is slippery and the speed is high) that the car uncontrollably starts moving and for some time (usually some seconds) the car doesn't respond to the steering wheel.

On the internet, I've I found on the Internet the expression "the car goes into a skid". Is it the correct? one?

Some of my own sentences follow (please no comma here correct them if necessary):

1. "I was driving along the a street and then when I turned left in the direction of the bridge, and my car suddenly went into a skid and I got scared."
2. "My car sometimes goes into a skid as I'm still an inexperienced driver at the moment."
3. "Cars can go into a skid when the road is slippery and if there is lack of street lighting in the street to meaning drivers cannot see the road clearly."
4. "If you go into a skid, do not do any abrupt things or motions make any abrupt/sudden manoeuvres."

Thanks.

Please note my corrections above. You must get into the habit of ending sentences with a full stop.
When you give us more than one sentence to look at, please number them so it's easier for us to refer to them in our responses.
With my corrections, all four sentences are grammatically correct. However, most native speakers would simply use the verb "skid". For example, "My car suddenly started skidding ..." or "Her car skidded across all three lanes because the road was so icy".

I don't think you can blame a lack of street lighting for cars skidding.

 

[milan2003_07]

Please note my corrections above. You must get into the habit of ending sentences with a full stop.
When you give us more than one sentence to look at, please number them so it's easier for us to refer to them in our responses.
With my corrections, all four sentences are grammatically correct. However, most native speakers would simply use the verb "skid". For example, "My car suddenly started skidding ..." or "Her car skidded across all three lanes because the road was so icy".

I don't think you can blame a lack of street lighting for cars skidding.

Thanks emsr2d2! I cordially appreciate your help and your invaluable advice!

Actually, I know about full stops. This kind of rules is the same in the Russian language. You've pointed it out correctly. However, sometimes I tend to ignore this rule and forget about full stops. I will try to remember about this sort of rules next time I post The same about numbering sentences when I offer more than one for reviewing.

I will remember about 'skidding'. For example, 'My car suddenly started skidding on the road when I was driving across the bridge and I needed to make effort, yield the road to the car driving behind me, and then, luckily, my car started responding to the steering wheel'

Of course, I don't think that this is street lighting to be blamed for skidding. Mostly skidding deals with a driver's experience and condition of a road. However, when I was learning how to drive I sometimes noticed that in some places in St. Petersburg there was not enough lighting to avoid slippery or icy segments of a road. It led to skidding, which weren't very strong. Also, many cars including mine have a special stabilization system that prevents strong skidding.

My regards,

 

[Tarheel]

Well, if you use full stops (periods) in Russian you should be used to it, shouldn't you?

Slippery roads are about 99% of the time caused by water -- either in liquid form or as ice. It's all about being careful. You might want to go faster, but you shouldn't. If you drive too fast your tires will totally lose traction, and you will lose control (skid). (I had that happen to me once, but we were going quite slowly, so it didn't last long.)

It's more important to avoid that than it is to know how to talk about it.

 

[jutfrank]

a) My car started skidding.
b) My car went into a skid.

Both are natural but they have different meanings.

The first sentence uses a verb, so the focus is on the action.
The second uses a noun, so the focus is on the movement of the car.

 

[milan2003_07]

Well, if you use full stops (periods) in Russian you should be used to it, shouldn't you?

Slippery roads are about 99% of the time caused by water -- either in liquid form or as ice. It's all about being careful. You might want to go faster, but you shouldn't. If you drive too fast your tires will totally lose traction, and you will lose control (skid). (I had that happen to me once, but we were going quite slowly, so it didn't last long.)

It's more important to avoid that than it is to know how to talk about it.

Yes, I use full stops in Russian and I am going to use it in English, of course. For some reason, I don't know why, I got in the habit of omitting full stops. Sometimes I don't use them in Russian, either.

Such effects, similar to what we have both described, also happen when one of the wheels falls into a puddle and a car can start floating for some time. Very uncomfortable.

 

[milan2003_07]

a) My car started skidding.
b) My car went into a skid.

Both are natural but they have different meanings.

The first sentence uses a verb, so the focus is on the action.
The second uses a noun, so the focus is on the movement of the car.

Sorry, I don't understand the complete difference between the two. I see that sentence 1 means the onset of skidding (when a car has just started to skid) and sentence 2 means that the skidding process has already started and is the middle or end of the process of complete driving.

Also, I am expecting the second sentence to be part of the statistics when we read such facts in a newspaper, for example.

 

[Tarheel]

Yes, I use full stops in Russian and I am going to use THEM in English, of course. For some reason, I don't know why, I got in the habit of omitting full stops. Sometimes I don't use them in Russian, either.

Such effects, similar to what we have both described, also happen when one of the wheels falls into a puddle and a car can start floating for some time. Very uncomfortable.

That's much more water than just a puddle.

When you don't know how deep the water is you'd better not drive down that road. It can be very dangerous.

 

[jutfrank]

Sorry, I don't understand the complete difference between the two. I see that sentence 1 means the onset of skidding (when a car has just started to skid)

I mean that if you use a verb such as 'skidding', you're describing an action. Verbs typically denote actions.

and sentence 2 means that the skidding process has already started and is the middle or end of the process of complete driving.

No, I mean that 'a skid', which is a noun phrase is a thing (a movement), not an action. Nouns typically denote things, not actions.

I'm trying to say that if you use 'go into a skid' you're thinking of the whole movement of the car, as a thing, rather than about a pure action.

 

[milan2003_07]

That's much more water than just a puddle.

When you don't know how deep the water is you not drive down that road. It can be very

The situation was as follows. I was driving down the street in a crossover car and a bit exceeded the speed limit. The rain had just passed and there were puddles on the right. I touched a big puddle with two right-hand wheels. It's unlikely it was something else rather than a puddle. The car started swinging but then it passed. For about a few seconds it was hardly possible to take control of my car.

I understand the seriousness of the situation. Now I try to avoid them or slow down until I have driven past the puddle.

 

[emsr2d2]

What's a crossover car?
As Tarheel said, there's not enough water in a puddle to cause a skid.

 

[Piscean]

I mean that 'a skid', which is a noun phrase is a thing (a movement), not an action. Nouns typically denote things, not actions.

I see the point you are making, but don't entirely agree. it depends to an extent on the nouns.verbs used. i would say that There was an explosion is at least as 'action-centred as The bomb exploded.

I'm trying to say that if you use 'go into a skid' you're thinking of the whole movement of the car, as a thing, rather than about a pure action.

I don't really see that.

 

[Tarheel]

@milan2003_07 The speed limit is irrelevant. What is relevant is Whether you were driving according to the conditions.

I don't know what a crossover car is.

The rain has just stopped.

The tires went into a puddle.

The street was wet from the recent rain -- the entire street, not just puddles.

You skidded for a bit, but you were able to regain control of the car.

Puddles are usually more of a problem for pedestrians than motorists.

 

[milan2003_07]

I mean that if you use a verb such as 'skidding', you're describing an action. Verbs typically denote actions.



No, I mean that 'a skid', which is a noun phrase is a thing (a movement), not an action. Nouns typically denote things, not actions.

I'm trying to say that if you use 'go into a skid' you're thinking of the whole movement of the car, as a thing, rather than about a pure action.

Thank you for this explanation! I will think it over again and I hope I will be able to use these phrases correctly

 

[jutfrank]

I see the point you are making, but don't entirely agree. it depends to an extent on the nouns.verbs used. i would say that There was an explosion is at least as 'action-centred as The bomb exploded.

I don't really see that.

I'm happy to go into this much deeper if you (or anyone else) would like. I'm not sure if this is the right place here in this thread.

 

[milan2003_07]

@milan2003_07 The speed limit is irrelevant. What is relevant is Whether you were driving according to the conditions.

I don't know what a crossover car is.

The rain has just stopped.

The tires went into a puddle.

The street was wet from the recent rain -- the entire street, not just puddles.

You skidded for a bit, but you were able to regain control of the car.

Puddles are usually more of a problem for pedestrians than motorists.

Yes, you are right in the description of the situation. The car skidded for a bit and then I regained control of the car, just after some 2-4 sec. give or take. Puddles also become a problem for pedestrians when they get watered as a result of a car going into a puddle and passing by.

However, that time it was a puddle indeed. None of the pedestrians suffered as there was no one passing by.

Here you can find pictures of crossover cars:

crossover car - Google Search

Maybe you will suggest a synonym that is clearer to your ear. A crossover is like a jeep, but it's smaller than the letter and bigger than a car. For instance, I have a crossover Hyundai Creta. I have been driving since 2019. There are crossovers produced by almost any big manufacturer including Honda, Ford, Mercedes, Mitsoubisi, Mazda, etc. They are easily found on the Internet. However, I'm really interested how You will call these cars.

 

[milan2003_07]

I'm happy to go into this much deeper if you (or anyone else) would like. I'm not sure if this is the right place here in this thread.

I'm interested

 

[milan2003_07]

@milan2003_07 The speed limit is irrelevant. What is relevant is Whether you were driving according to the conditions.

I don't know what a crossover car is.

The rain has just stopped.

The tires went into a puddle.

The street was wet from the recent rain -- the entire street, not just puddles.

You skidded for a bit, but you were able to regain control of the car.

Puddles are usually more of a problem for pedestrians than motorists.

Excuse me, shouldn't it be 'The rain HAD just stopped'?

 

[jutfrank]

I'm interested

Okay, I'll have a go.

When I was a young boy, I loved riding my bike and practising various skills and stunts. One of these stunts was a manoeuvre whereby you pick up some speed and suddenly turn the handlebars sharply while at the same time applying the rear brake. We called this particular manoeuvre 'a skid'. I might have uttered something in reference to this such as Look! I did a skid! or perhaps Did you see that wicked skid?!

The point is that in my mind there was a conception of the movement of the bike as a manoeuvre, a stunt, something that is performed,—in other words, a 'thing'. I used the noun phrase 'a skid' rather the verb 'skid' because I was thinking about the action as a discrete 'thing', with a defined beginning and end. I didn't say I skidded! because I wasn't not thinking primarily about the pure action of the wheels rubbing against the tarmac, but about the whole, complete movement of the bike.

So if you say The car went into a skid, there's this same idea that the focus is on the motion, the complete movement of the car, rather than on the action of the wheels creating friction on the road. With this particular phrase, the preposition 'into' suggests that the movement wasn't completed, actually, but the idea of the whole motion is still there regardless.

I hope that makes sense. What I'm saying here is not confined to skidding, of course. Such nominalisation (conceiving of events as things, and thereby making nouns from verbs) is incredibly common in English. I'm not sure if it's as common, or even possible, in Russian but in English we do it all the time.

We didn't get a good look.
Let's have a dance.
I had a little sleep.
Shall we go for a drive?
She had a bad dream.

 

[Tarheel]

Excuse me, shouldn't it be 'The rain HAD just stopped'?

I suppose that's possible too.