|
ESL Forum:
Techniques and methods
in Language Teaching
Games, activities
and teaching ideas
Grammar and
Linguistics
Teaching material
Concerning
worksheets
Concerning
powerpoints
Concerning online
exercises
Make suggestions,
report errors
Ask for help
Message board
|
ESL forum >
Ask for help > In the bus X on the bus
In the bus X on the bus
|
roael
|
In the bus X on the bus
|
|
Hi!
Could someone explain the difference between in the bus and on the bus? Thanks in advance. |
8 Sep 2018
|
|
|
|
yanogator
|
|
On the bus means that you are a passenger. It can also be used of parts of the bus itself. In the bus is just the physical location, and isn �t used very often. It is often worded "inside the bus". It can sometimes be used the same as "on the bus" to emphasize that something is inside. He is on the bus now, on his way home. Oh, no! I left my backpack on the bus. The wheels on the bus go round and round Round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, All through the town. The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish, Swish, swish swish, swish, swish, swish. The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish, All through the town... If you can �t find your cat here in the schoolyard, you could look in/inside the bus. Three people were trapped in/inside the bus after the accident. There are 16 people in/on the bus now. [The choice here just depends on how important their being inside the bus is, as compared to just being passengers.] Prepositions are a challenge in every language.  Bruce |
8 Sep 2018
|
|
|
|
|
zoemorosini
|
|
From my perspective, objects that are part of or always contained in the bus are "IN", and people and their belongings are ON the bus. The driver would of course be in the driver �s seat, and the passengers in their seats. If people were sitting/traveling or something were to be tied to the top of the bus in the open air, it would be ON TOP OF the bus. |
9 Sep 2018
|
|
|
yanogator
|
|
Hi, Zoe, I don �t quite agree with you. I think we �re more inclined to say "How many seats are on that bus?" than "How many seats are in that bus"? Bruce |
9 Sep 2018
|
|
|
ldthemagicman
|
|
Roael, I am with Bruce on this. It depends on whether you regard the six sides of the bus as superficial areas, or the entirety of the bus as one cubic volume. "The wheels on the bus"; "The doors on the bus"; "The number-plate on the bus"; "The destination-board on the bus"; "There were 10 passengers on the upper-deck and 20 passengers on the lower-deck of the bus"; (On the mobile phone, waiting at the bus stop for a friend.) "Where are you? Are you on this Number 16 bus that �s stopping now?" "Yes, I �m on the lower-deck, in the front seat, wearing a red hat. I have my suitcase on the bus, too, but it �s in the luggage compartment." "Thank you, I can see you now, sitting in the front seat!" Les Douglas |
10 Sep 2018
|
|
|
Antonio Oliver
|
|
Hi, Someone told me that the very first public transport buses (horse-drawn) were just open trailers were people used to stand or sit but obviously they weren �t IN as there were no proper walls or roof. It seems we �ve kept the preposition since then. However, it �s not all perfectly logical -we say IN my car but ON the bus!? Regards |
10 Sep 2018
|
|
|
cunliffe
|
|
Ah, Antonio, well, that explains why we say �on the bus � when we really are in it! What about the train and the plane? |
10 Sep 2018
|
|
|
Antonio Oliver
|
Yes Lynne, you can �t really be ON the plane unless you �re an acrobat!  |
10 Sep 2018
|
|
|
Minka
|
|
I think that president could have been on the plane after all, whether he is an acrobat or not, at least according to Oxford and Longman dictionaries.
|
13 Sep 2018
|
|
|
