Today I have seen in the English teaching-book , FCE the sentence- She was reading on a train, so that is?

Question

correct according to the grammarians. My question is- Are the following sentences correct: 1)She is on a train.
2) She is sitting in a train.3)She bought a ticket on a train.
4) She is reading on a train.
May I use the words bus, tram, trolleybus instead of the word train in the same sentences? But keep in mind that the grammar book gives the variant 'to read on a train' as the correct one. If both variants are possible then say about it, that it possible to say both ways, if only one way then only one way.

Answer 1

I don't know the origin of this peculiarity of usage It may have something to do with the origin of community transportation vs. individual transportation, but I'm not certain. The following statements are correct:

She is on the bus.
She is on the train.
She is on the airplane.
BUT
She is in the car.
She is on the bicycle. (This one makes sense, as she is not literally inside the bicycle)

In some cases of simple location, both forms would be acceptable. For example:

After looking everywhere, they finally found her on the train.
After looking everywhere, they finally found her in the train

Although to my ear, "on" sounds more correct. The second sentence suggests they found her IN the train, as opposed to on top of the train, under the train, etc.

If I had to guess, I would say that the "on" form comes from colloquial usage for public transportation - "getting on board". Therefore, it should generally be used *unless* the final sentence, as read, could cause some confusion.

For example:

She is sitting on the train. This could be used to describe a woman on the roof of a train, legs dangling over the side.

She is sitting in the train. Pretty unambiguous.

The sentence "She is reading on a train" suggests to me an abbreviation of the thought "She is reading while (located) on a train." - hence, the "on" form of the sentence.

Don't take this as authoritative. In fact, don't even take the grammatical "rule" being described as authoritative. It's a usage rule, not a grammar one - the same as "I'm engaged to a woman" as opposed to "I'm engaged with a woman". One is obviously natural in English, but both are technically grammatically correct. (I believe I read the second usage as a common error made by German speakers of English as a second language.)

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

The sentences that you list are all grammatically correct. You can read "in a train" as well as "on a train."

You can use the words bus, tram, and trolleybus in place of the word "train" (since they are all modes of transportation), but keep in mind that they don't mean the same thing as "train."

Answer 4

In the English language, there are so many different words for each meaning and many different meanings for each word and many times different spellings for one word. So, it is very confusing. As for the sentences you have here. Yes, they are all correct. The text books we use here try to give you the best answer possible, even if there are other possible correct answers.

Answer 5

3) She bought a ticket for a train. (Unless the the ticket was sold to her while she was actually aboard the train.)

With that modification you may substitute any form of transportation.
While "she is in the train" is correct, it is not the usual idiom and sounds strange to the American ear.
Hope this helps. English is confusing, even to many of us who claim to speak it.
*I defer to Neil who gives a much more complete answer.*

Answer 6

I agree with Neil and the others. While it may be technically correct to say "in" or "on", the latter is almost always correct in common usage.