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Joe2012 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Regarding a use of preposition

Sentence: There seems to be some virus spreading on/in Facebook.

My question: Which preposition will be correct to use in the sentence, in or on? Feel it ought to be the prepositon "on" but just want to confirm it. And please also have I said the sentence in a correct way?

Thanks and regards Emotion: smile
  

Top answer

"on" sounds OK; "in" doesn't seem quite right to me. If Facebook is just a means of propagating the virus (rather than the virus specifically attacking programs that are part of Facebook or are hosted by Facebook), then you could use "via". The rest of the sentence is fine.

— Mr Wordy

  • "on" sounds OK; "in" doesn't seem quite right to me.
  • If Facebook is just a means of propagating the virus (rather than the virus specifically attacking programs that are part of Facebook or are hosted by Facebook), then you could use "via".
  • The rest of the sentence is fine.
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6 Answers
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"on" sounds OK; "in" doesn't seem quite right to me. If Facebook is just a means of propagating the virus (rather than the virus specifically attacking programs that are part of Facebook or are hosted by Facebook), then you could use "via".

The rest of the sentence is fine.
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Mr WordyIf Facebook is just a means of propagating the virus (rather than the virus specifically attacking programs that are part of Facebook or are hosted by Facebook), then you could use "via".
Thanks. The virus is targetting only Facebook users. So I guess either prepositions, "via" or "on", can be used, no?
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RazerThanks. The virus is targetting only Facebook users. So I guess either prepositions, "via" or "on", can be used, no?
If the virus is somehow downloaded to people's PCs when they use Facebook, and then sits on their PCs doing malicious things that are independent of Facebook, then "via" can be used. If the virus only "lives" within parts of Facebook itself
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Mr WordyIf the virus only "lives" within parts of Facebook itself (to the extent that this is possible), then "via" is not appropriate.
Yes, it lives within Facebook only and didn't get downloaded. It just excute some script to generate offencive update from your profile. That's it. So should not the preposition "on" would be more appropriate?
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RazerYes, it lives within Facebook only and didn't get downloaded. It just excute some script to generate offencive update from your profile. That's it. So should not the preposition "on" would be more appropriate?
Yes, in that case "on" is more appropriate.
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