In / on subway

Question

Hi teachers,Which preposition is correct?  The man hurried her daughter who was passed out on / in subway to the hospital.Thank you.Tinanam

Englishmaven · Accepted Answer

Use his not her.

The man hurried his daughter who was passed out on the subway to the hospital.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Which preposition is correct?

in the subway

on a subway train

The man hurried her daughter, who was passed out on / in subway, to the hospital.

If the man is the father, say 'his', not 'her'.

. . . who had passed out . . .

Clive

Sam1947 · Answer

There are some confusing elements here. Are the characters a man (perhaps an ambulance driver), a woman, and the woman's daughter?

Or, did you mean the man hurried HIS daughter?

If the latter, it would be, "The man hurried his daugher who had passed out on the subway to the hospital." "In the subway" would also be ok, but would probably mean she was in the subway station rather than on the train itself. On the subway would mean on the train itself.

If there is a man driver, and a woman whose daughter is involved, it would be,

"The man hurried the woman's daughter who passed out in the subway to the hospital."

You could use either "passed out" or "had passed out" in either sentence.

Was passed out would mean she was still in the subway, so you wouldn't use that.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

tinanam0102The man hurried her daughter who was passed out on / in subway to the hospital.

As others already pointed out, the pronoun mistake is obvious. Syntacically and logically, it's not a sound sentence.

Hurried - is the incorrect verb for this sentence. When You hurry someone, say, your spouse who has already spent an hour getting dressed for a wedding, you basically tell him that he/she must speed up for you are running late. But if the man's daughter has passed out, one can't hurry someone unconscious. I think the appropriate verb is "rushed".

In "....His daughter is passed out...", "is" is incorrect because "passed" is a past participle. With the "is passed out..." construction, they would form a passive voice which doesn't make logical sense. So the correct sentence should be " The man rushed his daughter, who had passed out on the subway, to the hospital."

Avangi · Answer

dimsumexpressSo the correct sentence should be " The man rushed his daughter, who had passed out on the subway, to the hospital."

I agree.

As an aside, I think "passed out" is a common compound adjective, just as "to pass out" is a common compound verb. There may be a difference in register.

"was passed out" and "had passed out" both work for me.
It's at the author's discretion whether he wishes to focus on the act or the condition.

Similarly, I find "passed out on the subway" as common casually as "passed out on the platform."

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Avangi"was passed out" and "had passed out" both work for me.

I am glad it works for you.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pass+out
pass out
To lose consciousness.

To me, if someone says: "The drunk man is passed out" to mean "he has passed out from drinking way too much", it's ungrammatical.

Avangi · Answer

dimsumexpressTo me, . . . . . . . . it's ungrammatical.

Ah knows.

Edit.
Not meaning to be flip, do you reject the whole concept of "to be" plus past participle as adjective complement, or could you perhaps offer an example which you accept?
Perhaps of the form: "She is/was disheartened." (My dictionary doesn't give it an adjective entry, but others may.)

Regards, - A.

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi all,

Thank you for all your help.

Tinanam

Avangi · Answer

EnglishmavenThe man hurried his daughter who was passed out on the subway to the hospital.

Having lived in two cities in which one can travel nearly anywhere by subway,
This seems to suffer from a misplaced modifier.

Which subway was she on? (reply) The subway to the hospital.

Only Dimsum's version attempts to address this problem, by adding comas.
You can highlight this by changing the verb to "accompanied":
The man accompanied his daughter, who was passed out on the subway to the hospital.

In / on subway

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