City University of Hong Kong CLASS CLASS
Making Sense of Grammar

“我看见一只鸟在树上”应该说“I saw a bird on the tree” 还是“I saw a bird in the tree”？

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asked Sep 30, 2020 in Questions about English Grammar by Mickey (7,360 points) | 4,836 views

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按照“形意搭配”原则，这两句话的形式既然不一样，语意就不一样。

之前的问题中回答过，in的本义是空间范畴之内，on则是在表面上接触，所以如果把树看作一个范畴，那么就用in，如果把树看作是一个接触表面，就用on.
answered Sep 30, 2020 by Mickey (7,360 points)

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