sit in or on the juice

Question

Hi teachers,The collocation and the choice of preposition are very hard.  Can please you correct it to make sense?1. He accidentally sat in the spilled juice on the chair.    He accidentally sat on the chair with spilled juice.2.  He is sitting out in the snow.     He is out sitting on the snow.Thanks TN

77PhrasalVerbs · Accepted Answer

To my ears, all the versions sound fine except perhaps the last one. I think it should be "in the snow" and not "on the snow".

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi 77PhrasalVerbs,

Thanks.
1. He's sitting out in the snow could it mean He's sitting outside during the snow, like walk in the rain.
2. He's sitting out on the snow, could it mean He's sitting outside now physically on the snow.
I'd like to know how to express this.
Thanks
TN

77PhrasalVerbs · Answer

Hi Tinanam,

Well, the second of these sounds a bit strange to me because snow is soft and and if you sit "on" it then you will sink "into" it. So I'm not sure you would really say sitting 'on' the snow. Sitting on ice would be possible though because it is solid.

If you say somebody is "outside in the snow" then it could perhaps be like a walk in the rain. However, if somebody is sitting in the snow, then we can assume they have a wet bottom, because when it snows, everywhere gets wet and snowy. So I think it would be difficult to be "sitting in the snow' without actually physically being in the snow. Perhaps if he were sitting on a bench that was covered with snow, we might say "on the snow".

It's certainly an interesting question.

CalifJim · Answer

tinanam0102He accidentally sat in the spilled juice on the chair.

OK. Also, in/on the juice (that was) spilled on the chair.

tinanam0102He accidentally sat on the chair with spilled juice.

OK. I'd say on the chair that had juice spilled on it.

tinanam0102He is sitting out in the snow.

Fine. You can use the same sentence whether it's snowing or not at the time, and whether he is sitting on a chair or on snow. It simply means 'in an environment characterized by the presence of snow'.

tinanam0102He is out sitting on the snow.

Possible, but I would put a comma after out or move out after sitting or change out to outside. In other words one of these:

He is out, sitting on the snow.
He is sitting out on the snow.
He is outside sitting on the snow.

Some people prefer to say 'outdoors' instead of 'outside'.

In cold climates snow accumulates and solidifies under its own weight so it is certainly possible to sit on snow. If the humidity is low, you will not get wet. When you get up, you can brush off any flakes of snow that have adhered to your clothes. I regularly sat on snow myself.

CJ

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi CalifJim,

Thank you so much for such detailed explanation and alternative ways of using such sentence.

1. Just a silly question. He is out, sitting on the snow. If we are talking you won't be able to notice the comma there. So does it mean you only use it in writing and not conversation?

2. Is 'on snow' and 'on the snow' same? I noticed you mentioned two time 'on snow'
Thank you so much
TN

CalifJim · Answer

tinanam0102He is out, sitting on the snow. If we are talking you won't be able to notice the comma there. So does it mean you only use it in writing and not conversation?

In this case you "hear" the comma. Here is the stress and rhythm pattern.

he is OUT ... SITting on the SNOW
___

Without the comma (and this doesn't sound right to native speakers):

he is out SITting . on the SNOW
___

But in the other order it sounds right:

he is SITting .OUT on the SNOW

(Of course it's impossible to show the stress patterns exactly, but this may give you a rough idea.)

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

tinanam0102 Is 'on snow' and 'on the snow' same? I noticed you mentioned two time 'on snow'

In your sentences you had "on the snow", so I kept that the same in my examples. "the snow" is a particular patch of snow that the speaker had in mind when he said the sentence. The article "the" makes it definite, i.e., the speaker is referring to some patch of snow in the real world that he sees, or sees in his imagination.

On the other hand, I wrote my explanations about any snow. I did not have in mind a particular patch of snow that anyone was sitting on. I wrote, for example:

whether he is sitting on a chair or on snow

Note that this contains "a chair", not "the chair", because what I explained had nothing to do with any one chair. It had to do with all chairs, or stated differently, any chair. Likewise, because "chair" was indefinite, "snow" was indefinite in the same clause because what I explained had nothing to do with any one patch of snow. It applied to all snow, or any snow.

Countable, indefinite: a chair
Countable, definite: the chair
Uncountable, indefinite: snow
Uncountable, definite: the snow

CJ

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi CalifJim,

I'm glad I asked about it. I just thought it is like in 'the sun'. Now I understand.
Thanks again.
TN

CalifJim · Answer

tinanam0102 I just thought it is like in 'the sun'

No. More like in 'the sugar'.

CJ

sit in or on the juice

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