1

enter image description here According to ngram "he sat in" has slightly more frequency than "he sat on", but both are used, so they must be grammatically correct.

Could they be used interchangeably without different meaning? But if the meaning altered, what is the difference?

Improve this question
1
  • 1
    Without more context, this is not doable. Both can be right, both can be wrong.
    – Lambie
    Jun 12, 2019 at 13:54

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
0

Both are correct, in different contexts.

"On" means "atop of", and would be used for things that you sit on the surface of, such as a barstool.

"In" means "amongst" or "inside of", and would normally be used for something you sit within, such as a bathtub.

Returning to the chair example though, there are different types of chair and it is not uncommon to say someone is sitting in a chair if it is an armchair, as a person sort of sinks into them rather than perching neatly on top as on a barstool. There are other situations that call for an idiomatic change - for example, we tend to say someone is sitting on a bed if they are sitting on top of the covers, but if they get under the covers they are sitting in bed.

It gets even more complicated with things that you could be spoken of as being either "in" or "on". An example that springs to mind is sand. You could sit on a beach and be said to be sitting on the sand. But the texture of sand as a substance means you could be also spoken of as sitting in it if, for example, you were half-buried in it.

I get what you were trying to do with your ngram, but there really is no comparison between the two, or anything to be learned from the frequency of how often each is used. Both are used in different situations.

Improve this answer
4
  • 1
    Thank you! This explanation is really helpful.
    – Eva
    Jun 12, 2019 at 12:46
  • He sat in on the meeting for ten minutes. He sat on the problem for hours. He sat upright in his chair. Without context, who knows?
    – Lambie
    Jun 12, 2019 at 13:55
  • I'm sorry but I have to expand my question. I'm kind of understand why it's "on the problem", but why it's "on the meeting" and not "in the meeting"? By my logic, "in" is inside, not on the surface.
    – Eva
    Jun 12, 2019 at 15:13
  • 1
    @EvaP That is another one of those idiomatic situations I mentioned. People tend to say a subject or item is "on the meeting" to refer to a meeting agenda, because the subject is written on the agenda or programme. Referring to events expected to occur during a meeting people might say "this will happen in the meeting" or "we will be doing this in the meeting". There are loads more quirks, I couldn't possibly list them all.
    – Astralbee
    Jun 12, 2019 at 15:21

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .