I was given a picture of people going down a sidewalk. And I was asked to answer the question of where the people are right now. Do I have to use the definite article or indefinite before the word street? For example:
In this picture are two women in a/the street.
I don't know exactly which street they are at right now, what I know from the picture that they are walking down the sidewalk.
"in the street" has a particular meaning: that they are on the road and not the sidewalk. They are in the middle of the road, blocking traffic.
"They are in a street" is not a usual expression. It sounds odd.
The preposition "on" may sometimes be used:
"Which street are they on?" Good.
"They are walking down the street." This is a very common expression. It's ambiguous here whether that means "sidewalk" or "street" - probably "sidewalk" is implied.
If the people are on the sidewalk, then you would use "a". This is more general - if the people were standing on the road, they would be in "the" street.
