Use of "in" or "on".

[QuicksandBug]

Hello, Teachers

I've been having a little of doubt with this specific sentence

"She was laying on the middle of the road."

One of the grammar checking programs that I use says that i'm doing it right, but two others say that I should use "in" instead of "on". After checking the use of both words I found the following: "We use on to describe a position along a road."

Thank you in advance.

 

[tedmc]

"She was lying in the middle of the road."

You say "in the middle" when you talking about the location in relation to the road.

 

[Tarheel]

I would prefer:

She was lying down in the middle of the road.

(You had a question.)

Thank you in advance.

OK, but can you be more patient next time, and thank us after you have been helped?

 

[Yankee]

"She was lying in the middle of the road."

You say "in the middle" when you talking about the location in relation to the road.

But I would use "on" if referring to the road in general.

 

[emsr2d2]

In BrE "Laying down" if it was a voluntary action, just "laying" if she had been knocked down by a car.

Sorry, but "laying" is wrong. As shown in post #2, it should be "lying".

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I would prefer:

She was lying down in the middle of the road. . . .

I'd only use lying down if she were doing it intentionally. If she had fainted or been hit by a bus, I'd just use lying.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

But I would use "on" if referring to the road in general.

I wonder. On one hand, I can't think of her as lying on the road in general. She was lying on it in one particular place.

- This morning she was shopping on Newberry Street.
- This afternoon she was lying in the middle of Newberry Street.

On the other hand, I like both "She was lying on the street" and "She was lying in the street." (And they mean the same thing, unlike "She was lying on the ground" versus "She was lying in the ground.")

So I guess it's the "in the middle" that pushes me to "in."

But doesn't British English do it differently — like: "She was shopping in Carnaby Street"?