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I know that for stairs, the preposition 'on' is much more correct and suitable than 'in'. However, if I try to form a sentence like the one below:

  • He suddenly stopped dead ON/IN the middle of the stairs.

Which one should I use? Although 'ON' would be the logical choice, 'IN' sounds much more pleasing to the ear in that phrase. Google Ngram supports that: enter image description here

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    I think you can answer your own question. "In the middle" is far more common in all contexts than "on the middle" the evidence is ngrams
    – James K
    Commented Jan 28, 2017 at 14:41
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    Yes but I can find quite a few solid examples of 'on the middle of the stairs' and even 'at the middle of the stairs' on google book search. Which is why I want to see the views of other users.
    – JUNCINATOR
    Commented Jan 28, 2017 at 14:44

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The usual expression is

in the middle of the stairs

since "the stairs" is a location with a beginning (bottom) and an end (top, depending on perspective). You might also use

on the middle stair

which is the stair step equidistant from the top and bottom, and equivalent to

at the middle of the stairs

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  • I thought about this question for a bit, and eventually came to pretty much the same conclusion you did. While I don't think on would be "wrong," I think the three alternatives you mention here seem more common and natural.
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Jan 29, 2017 at 3:46

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