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  1. "Don't pluck flowers in the garden."
  2. "Don't pluck flowers from the garden."

Which preposition should I use in the above sentence?

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4 Answers 4

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Both sentences are valid, but they differ slightly in meaning.

Don't pluck flowers in the garden. (Just look at them, please.)

Refers to the position of the person doing the picking.

Don't pluck flowers from the garden. (Get them from the meadow.)

Refers to the origin of the flowers.

So depending on what you want to say, choose the appropriate phrase.

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I would use:

Don't pluck flowers (that are) in the garden.

when emphasizing the location of the flowers.

Don't pluck flowers from the garden.

Since "plucking flowers" implies that they will be taken somewhere else, this form emphasizes that they will be removed from the garden.

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This is one of these areas where either preposition will work fine, because they both essentially amount to the same thing.

When you pluck a flower that's in the garden, you also pluck a flower from the garden. That's what happens when you pluck flowers – especially since flowers aren't usually reattached to their stems after plucking.

So, in this context (that is, when the verb is pluck and the object is flowers), the preposition in describes where the flowers are before plucking, and the preposition from describes where the flowers are plucked from. In both cases, the location is the garden, and both sentences sound quite natural.

These two prepositions aren't always so interchangeable, though. It hinges on the verb. For example, if the verb was touch and the object was cookies, I might say:

  • Don't touch any of the cookies in that glass jar.

That's the same as saying:

  • See those cookies in that glass jar? Don't touch any of them.

However, I probably wouldn't say:

  • Don't touch any of the cookies from that glass jar.

unless they had already been removed from the jar for some reason. So, if I removed them from the jar and put them on the countertop, I might say:

  • Don't touch any of those cookies from the glass jar. I'm wrapping them up and taking them to work tomorrow.

Here's one more example, with the verb eat:

  • Don't eat any of the tomatoes from the garden.
    (could mean the tomatoes are already picked, don't eat them, OR don't go out in the garden and start eating the tomatoes)
  • Don't eat any of the tomatoes in the garden.
    (implies the tomatoes are still growing; don't pick them)
    (this sentence is ambiguous, though; it could also mean, "if you're going to eat the tomatoes, don't eat them in the garden -- bring them inside and wash them off first)
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  • How greatly detailed and clear this answer is. +1
    – shin
    Dec 1, 2015 at 5:12
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Both are correct, but they imply slightly different things.

Don't pluck flowers from the garden.

That just means what it sounds like, but it could also imply ("don't pluck flowers from the garden," pluck them from the field.)

Don't pluck flowers in the garden

This one is more going on the (in the garden).

While you are in the garden don't pluck flowers.

Don't pluck flowers that are in the garden

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