in line three or on line three

[Jasmine_Jafari]

When you are reading a passage, do you say there is a mistake in line three or on line three?

 

[Rover_KE]

You will hear both.

 

[Polyester]

Are both very common in your country?

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes.

 

[TheParser]

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


Hello, Jasmine:

Those two prepositions confuse me, too.

I have just decided to follow Michael Swan's advice (in his Practical English Usage):

"In" is used to talk about the position of things which actually form part of the line:

His example: "There's a misprint in line 6 on page 22."

Recently I was reading what a journalist told some journalism students: "Put it [the important facts] all in the first line."

 

[MikeNewYork]

Are both very common in your country?

In the US, "in" is far more common.

 

[emsr2d2]

I would say that "in" is more common in BrE, too.