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Hello, I'm trying to describe the situation from the pic attached,what would be the right preposition to use in this sentence and why?

The screw got stuck in/on there (a stand leg) pretty tight.

I don't know which one to use since both make sense to me. "stuck in" because part of the screw is inside the leg, and "stuck on" because the screw is still on top of the leg.

Thank you in advance

2 Answers 2

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The preposition is "in". Strictly speaking, the screw got stuck in a hole (or socket) in the leg.

The screw penetrates the leg and so is stuck in it.

If you say "the screw is stuck on the leg", people would assume it is stuck on the surface - probably with glue.

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The picture shows a leg, detached from what it supported. The leg has a screw protruding from it (the dark-colored threads).

That screw is screwed into an insert (the light-colored part), which is itself a screw, and which is designed to go into the table or other thing that the leg supported.

The screw protruding from the leg appears to be stuck in the insert, which has come loose from what it was screwed into.

I might also add that the screw that sticks out of the leg (dark-colored), which has fine threads, probably has another coarse wood thread on the part that is in the leg. That part is not made to come out. When the leg is detached from its table, the dark-colored thread should unscrew from the light-colored insert, which should remain in the table.

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  • Sorry, I didn't understand your explanation very much. Do you mean that the screw (that isn't the insert) is part of the leg?
    – Romi
    Aug 15, 2020 at 16:44
  • @Romi I expanded the answer to try to clarify it. Does that help? Aug 15, 2020 at 17:07

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