on the river

Question

Can I say,They went fishing by / on / in / beside / at the river.

Optilang · Accepted Answer

They went fishing by / on / in / beside / at the river.

All OK.

Goodman · Answer

Vincent,

That's why I kept explaining to you why it's not correct to say “Can I say….”.

You can say whatever you like, granted it’s grammatical. Given that, it still may not get the meaning across to the reader as you had intended.

Fishing by the river – paints a picture where you are casting a line into the river by the bank of the river.

A river can be very long. If I say I was fishing at the river yesterday, I am telling you what I was doing rather than where I was in reality. You may say “at the dock by the river…”

Fishing in the river – you are actually standing in waist –high water with a fishing pole.

On the river –paints a picture in which you are fishing on a boat .

Yes, you can say all of the above, only if one of which is the meaning you had in mind!

on the river

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