何时用"on",何时用"in"?

原文作者:Maeve
翻译:Vane

Nate问道：在一个句子中in和on的正确用法是什么？我经常搞混着两个词，比如：“The boat is in/on the water,”(水中的船)“We are in/on the planet,”(我们在飞机上) “We’re going to the concert in/on July 1st.”(我们要在7月1日去听音乐会)

英语中的介词经常是通用的，有一个总的原则，但在某些特殊的表达中介词的使用并不拘泥于这个总原则。以介词in和on为例，有以下常用用法:

IN

in表示“静止在（某处）”
地点：He lives in the country.他住在这个国家。
He lives in Chicago.他生活在芝加哥。
但是在句子He lives at 2300 Wabash Ave.(他住在Wabash大街2300号)中注意，此处用at!
时间：I’ll be there in an hour.我一小时后到。
态度：The child ran down the steps in tears.那孩子哭着跑下楼梯。
指代：In my opinion we need a referendum. 依我看我们需要投票表决。
They are happy in their marriage.他们度过了一个幸福的婚礼。

ON

on表示接近以及处于...的上方/外部
地点：He sat on the fence.他坐在围栏上。
时间：He was not thinking well on that occasion.他那时还没想好。
指代：He asked my opinion on the matter.他询问我对这件事的看法。
条件：We’ll hire him on your recommendation.既然是你推荐的，我们会雇用他。

在开头的问题中举出的例子，正确的表达是：

We are on the planet.
We are going to the concert on July 1.
注意这个句子：We are going to the concert in July.

关于船的例子，两种表达皆正确，需要根据语境判断：

The boat is in the water. (As opposed to being on dry land for the winter与冬天在陆地上相对)
The boat is on the water. (Look at all those boats out there on the water!)
但是，说The ship is in the ocean or in the sea是不对的，除非船已经沉了。一般我们说The ship is on the sea.

和何时用in相关的问题还有何时用into。in表示静止在某处的状态，或是被某物包围的状态，而into表示这种倾向的动作：

The dog jumped into the water.
The children (who were already in the water) jumped in the water.

当你犹豫该用in还是into的时候，想一想是否你所指的人/物正从一个地方移动到另一个地方。如果是，用into.