On fire in fire

[nq:1]Give me a comparison between these two usages. The house is on fire. The house is in fire. Any dictionary lists 'on fire.' Is not proper to say," it's in fire."? Or, although gramatically right, you rarely say it?[/nq]
"In fire" is incorrect.

Steny '08!

[nq:1]Give me a comparison between these two usages. The house is on fire. The house is in fire. Any dictionary lists 'on fire.' Is not proper to say," it's in fire."? Or, although gramatically right, you rarely say it?[/nq]
No: English speakers say on fire and afire but
never in fire. This is merely the established pattern of usage. (It need not be traced to any rule of
grammar.)

[nq:2]Give me a comparison between these two usages. The house ... in fire."? Or, although gramatically right, you rarely say it?[/nq]
[nq:1]"In fire" is incorrect.[/nq]
"Engulfed in fire"? Depends on the verb, dunit?

dg (domain=ccwebster)

[nq:2]Give me a comparison between these two usages. The house ... in fire."? Or, although gramatically right, you rarely say it?[/nq]
[nq:1]No: English speakers say on fire and afire but never in fire.[/nq]
That's because people get killed in fire, at least headline-wise.
[nq:1]This is merely the established pattern of usage. (It need not be traced to any rule of grammar.) [/nq]
S

[nq:1]Give me a comparison between these two usages. The house is on fire.[/nq]
OK
[nq:1]The house is in fire.[/nq]
Not unless you picked up the house and threw it into a fire, and then it would be "The house is in the fire."
[nq:1]Any dictionary lists 'on fire.' Is not proper to say," it's in fire."?[/nq]
No.
[nq:1]Or, although gramatically right, you rarely say it?[/nq]

[nq:2]Give me a comparison between these two usages. The house ... in fire."? Or, although gramatically right, you rarely say it?[/nq]
[nq:1]"In fire" is incorrect.[/nq]
The idiomatic prepositional usage is 'on', 'in' being used only for the logical and literal meaning, on the off chance one exists.

Opening her own letter Dorothea saw that it was a lively continuation of his remon

[nq:1]The house is on fire. The house is in fire. Any dictionary lists 'on fire.'[/nq]
They are right. This is a matter of idiom. When referring to fire to indicate the state of burning, "on" is the preposition we use in English.
[nq:1]Is not proper to say," it's in fire."? Or, although gramatically right, you rarely say it?[/nq]
"In fire" is grammatical, but is not the idiom expressin

[nq:1]"In fire" is grammatical, but is not the idiom expressing burning. It occurs in situations where "in" is being used ... mean that it is actually burning perhaps it's made of fire-resistant brick and is going to survive the fire.[/nq]
But it's still "on fire" and may end up being burned out (i.e. everything not fire-resistant will be gone)

Jordan Abel wrote on 05 Dec 2004:
[nq:2]"In fire" is grammatical, but is not the idiom expressing ... of fire-resistant brick and is going to survive the fire.[/nq]
[nq:1]But it's still "on fire" and may end up being burned out (i.e. everything not fire-resistant will be gone)[/nq]
Nonsense. Haven't you ever seen an action movie in which actors were engulfed "in fire" but were not at a

Martin Ambuhl filted:
[nq:2]The house is on fire. The house is in fire.[/nq]
[nq:1]It's a house afire.[/nq]
The house is afire, the door is ajar, and the game is afoot..r