In and ON, tell the difference?

1.The woman is in the chair.

2. The woman on the couch.

Why this difference? Pls. explain.

hi :-(,

i think,both sentences should be,

the woman is on the chair.

the woman on the chouch.

because,on means above of sth.

in means inside of sth.

take care,

see ya;)

The first sentence is sounds odd. I guess you've meant "There is a woman in the chair" or "The woman is sitting in the chair" or  "the woman in the chair".

In the cases of these the meaning is that the woman is sitting and the chair has likely arms and the lady is  surrounded by the arms and the chair's back.
 
Also a baby can sit in a baby-feeding chair, because it has protective parts against falling out of the chair when a baby has been sat in.

On indirect way you also sit in a chair if you are a chairman for instance. If you are the man in the chair you are, likely, a head of a big company, a bank , etc..

So if you are surrounded by something(chair's arms) I think you can sit in.

However if the chair has no arms, supposedly, still you can sit onto it as well as you can sit or lay on the couch. :) It's on because you will touch the surface only.

Both are correct. "In" is more often used but "on" is more grammatically correct.

They are interchangeable in this instance.

when the woman 's in the chair she in sitting.

If the woman's on the couch she  most likely is lying.

It's the great difference!

Thanx, friends.

on means above  something.

in means inside or within some area.

FOR eg.  I live in India.

1.The women is standing on the chair.

is right instead of in.

hey! I have one question for you , tell me uses of at as compare to in?

reply!

wow ramesh, that is a really good question.

"She is at the store."

"She is in the store."

There are differences in the meanings of these, unlike "in" and "on" in this thread. There are several variable though. For example, the location of the person speaking. If the person is near the store then she is in it. If the person is at home then she is at the store… I don't think I can explain it better then that at the moment…. Such a hard question to answer.

Prepositions expressing spatial relations are of two kinds: prepositions of location and prepositions of direction. Both kinds may be either positive or negative. Prepositions of location appear with verbs describing states or conditions, especially be; prepositions of direction appear with verbs of motion. This handout deals with positive prepositions of location that sometimes cause difficulty: at, on, and in.

The handout is divided into two sections. The first explains the spatial relationships expressed by the three prepositions. The second examines more closely the uses of in and on.

Dimensions and Prepositions

Prepositions differ according to the number of dimensions they refer to. We can group them into three classes using concepts from geometry: point, surface, and area or volume.

Point

Prepositions in this group indicate that the noun that follows them is treated as a point in relation to which another object is positioned.

Surface

Prepositions in this group indicate that the position of an object is defined with respect to a surface on which it rests.

Area/Volume

Prepositions in this group indicate that an object lies within the boundaries of an area or within the confines of a volume.

Notice that although in geometry surface and area go together because both are two-dimensional, in grammar area and volume go together because the same prepositions are used for both.

In light of these descriptions, at, on, and in can be classified as follows:

at ….... point
on ….... surface
in ….... area/volume

 

 

The meanings of the three prepositions can be illustrated with some sample sentences:

1) My car is at the house.
2) There is a new roof on the house.
3) The house is in Tippecanoe county.
4) There are five rooms in the house, which has a lovely fireplace in the living room.

 

All of these sentences answer a question of the form, "Where is _?" but each gives different information. Before going on, explain to yourself the spatial relations shown in each sentence.

1) locates a car in relation to a house, understood as a fixed point. 2) treats the house as a surface upon which another object, the roof, is placed. 3) locates the house within a geographical area. 4) treats the house as a three-dimensional structure that can be divided into smaller volumes, namely, rooms, inside one of which is an object, the fireplace.

Using "at"

At calls for further comment. Because it is the least specific of the prepositions in its spatial orientation, it has a great variety of uses. Here are some of them:

location
5a) Tom is waiting for his sister at the bank.
5b) Sue spent the whole afternoon at the fair.
destination
6a) We arrived at the house.
6b) The waiter was at our table immediately.
direction
7a) The policeman leaped at the assailant.
7b) The dog jumped at my face and really scared me.

In 5a), the bank can be understood as a point defining Tom's location, much as in 1) above. It makes less sense to think of a fair as a point in 5b) since fairs are usually spread out over a fairly large area. Probably at is used in this case just because it is the least specific preposition; it defines Sue's location with respect to the fair rather than some other place. In 6a), at exhibits its cause/effect relationship with to, which cannot be used here: arrival at a place is the result of going to it. 7a) and 7b) show that with certain verbs of motion at may be used with the same meaning as its directional counterpart to, that is, direction toward something. Again, see the directional prepositions handout.

In the remainder of the handout, we will look at special problems that arise in choosing between in and on.

"in" and "on"

1. Nouns denoting enclosed spaces, such as a field or a window, take both on and in. The prepositions have their normal meanings with these nouns: on is used when the space is considered as a surface, in when the space is presented as an area:

Three players are practicing on the field. (surface)
Three cows are grazing in the field. (area)
The frost made patterns on the window. (surface)
A face appeared in the window. (area)

 

Notice that in implies that the field is enclosed, whereas on implies only that the following noun denotes a surface and not necessarily an enclosed area:

The sheep are grazing in the pasture. (enclosed by a fence)
The cattle are grazing on the open range. (not enclosed by a fence )
Three players are on the basketball court. (not enclosed)
Three players are on the soccer field. (not enclosed)
Two boxers are in the ring. (enclosed by ropes)

2. When the area has metaphorical instead of actual boundaries, such as when field means "academic discipline," in is used:

She is a leading researcher in the bioengineering field.

3. Several common uses of in and on occur with street. The first two follow the general pattern of in and on usage. The third is an idiom that must be learned as a unit.

a) The children are playing in the street.
b) Our house is on Third Street.
c) He declared bankruptcy last week, and now he's out on the street.	(This is an idiom meaning that he's poor.)

In a) the street is understood as an area enclosed by the sidewalks on either side. Compare b) with the discussion of sentence 3) in the first section. Here on locates the house on either side of Third Street: it doesn't mean that the street is a surface on which the house sits. Because the street is understood as a line next to which the house is situated, on functions much like at in its normal use: it locates the house in relation to the street but does not specify the exact address. For that purpose, at is used because the address is like a particular point on the line. Compare: "Our house is at 323 Third Street." In c) out on the street is an idiom meaning "poor" or "destitute."

4. In and on are also used with means of transportation: in is used with a car, on with public or commercial means of transportation:

in the car
on the bus
on the plane
on the train
on the ship

Some speakers of English make a further distinction for public modes of transportation, using in when the carrier is stationary and on when it is in motion.

My wife stayed in/on the bus while I got out at the rest stop.
The passengers sat in/on the plane awaiting takeoff.