Feb 16, 2010 19:29
14 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term
(...) coming dowm ON a summer day...
English
Other
Linguistics
Grammar
(ex. CCR's song) - What rule would make using IN a mistake here?
Responses
+6
27 mins
Sarah Bessioud
Germany
Germany
Native in English
&
English
Germany
A way with words
Native in: English (Variants: British, UK, US) 
Works in: German to English, French to English, English
Related KudoZ points
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4
Selected
IN the summer, but ON a particular day
The preposition IN is used with the months of the year, (for example in summer, in spring, in winter etc.) but the preposition ON is used when something is happening on a particular day (for example, on Sunday, on Monday etc.)
In this particular example, if you said 'coming down in the summer', this would not infer a particular day, but rather at some point during the whole season. On the other hand, 'coming down on a summer day' would indicate on one specific day of the season.
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Note added at 1 day13 hrs (2010-02-18 08:34:17 GMT)
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That should of course read: IN is used with the SEASONS of the year, athough IN is also with the months.
In this particular example, if you said 'coming down in the summer', this would not infer a particular day, but rather at some point during the whole season. On the other hand, 'coming down on a summer day' would indicate on one specific day of the season.
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Note added at 1 day13 hrs (2010-02-18 08:34:17 GMT)
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That should of course read: IN is used with the SEASONS of the year, athough IN is also with the months.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+3
30 mins
Richard McDorman
United States
United States
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
United States
Miami, Florida USA
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
Works in: Spanish to English, Latin to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
16
English term (edited):
(...) coming down on a summer day...
There is no "rule" involved. It is lexically determined by the inherent meaning of "in" and "on."
This particular aspect of usage is not determined by a rule (it is not an issue of syntactic generation, using a generative grammar approach) or by constraint interaction (following Optimality Theory).
Rather, the meaning of "in" (which implicates inclusion within) does not fit here. The phrase "in a summer's day" implies delimitation and bounding (as in, "I managed to complete all my work in a single summer's day). When the focus is simply that an action will occur at a specific time, English uses "on" when the scope is a single day (e.g., "It happened on Monday").
In general, English uses "on" for "time when" involving days but "in" when the object is a larger period (as "in November," "in 1963," "in the twentieth century"). Keep in mind, however, that this is not a rule, but a pattern of usage based on the specific lexical content of two words.
Rather, the meaning of "in" (which implicates inclusion within) does not fit here. The phrase "in a summer's day" implies delimitation and bounding (as in, "I managed to complete all my work in a single summer's day). When the focus is simply that an action will occur at a specific time, English uses "on" when the scope is a single day (e.g., "It happened on Monday").
In general, English uses "on" for "time when" involving days but "in" when the object is a larger period (as "in November," "in 1963," "in the twentieth century"). Keep in mind, however, that this is not a rule, but a pattern of usage based on the specific lexical content of two words.
Reference:
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Sabine Akabayov, PhD
3 mins
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Thank you.
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| agree |
Jim Tucker (X)
1 hr
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Thanks, Jim!
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| agree |
Bernhard Sulzer
: Nice explanation why IN does not fit here.
3 hrs
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Thank you very much, Bernhard.
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| neutral |
Ildiko Santana
: "English uses "on" for "time when" involving days but "in" when the object is a larger period" - except for IN a minute, IN a split second, IN a blink of an eye, IN a flash.... ;)
18 hrs
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Yes, you are right that my explanation in this regard was incomplete (however, given this specific context, I thought that my explanation was sufficient to answer the question). I appreciate your input.
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5 mins
wrong preposition
plus it's dowN.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2010-02-16 22:24:28 GMT)
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It's just how it is. No rule.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2010-02-16 22:24:28 GMT)
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It's just how it is. No rule.
Note from asker:
| Standing corrected by Lirka's picking up on my spelling messup of dowm[sic], the answer did not add up to much in the way of a reason why. |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Filippe Vasconcellos de Freitas Guimarães
: FNO, have a look at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/594/01 . And it's sunny day, actually :)
3 mins
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| disagree |
Jim Tucker (X)
: No explanation given. What is the right preposition?
1 hr
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On is right, IN is wrong
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