Have you ever been on a plane/horse?
- Thread starter Bagsensei
- Start date
ewie
Senior Member
English English
Hullo Bagsensei.
Have you ever ridden a horse?
Have you ever been on a horse?
Have you ever flown?
Have you ever been on a plane?
Have you ever ridden a horse?
Have you ever been on a horse?
Have you ever flown?
Have you ever been on a plane?
ewie
Senior Member
English English
You could, but it tends to conjure up mental images of this kind of thing*
[Image is of someone 'wing-walking'.]
[Image is of someone 'wing-walking'.]
You could, but it tends to conjure up mental images of this kind of thing*
[Image is of someone 'wing-walking'.]
I found this sentence at www.ecenglish.com - an English learning site.
"I have never flown on a plane."
Is this ambiguous?
ewie
Senior Member
English English
No, not really. I still think it would be more usual to say I've never been in/on a plane or I've never flown, though
sound shift
Senior Member
English - England
I agree with ewie
... this time.
... this time.
Sparky Malarky
Senior Member
English - US
Not really ambiguous, but what else would you fly on? A balloon?
There are two issues here. One is the verb fly. Humans cannot fly (as birds do) so when you hear someone say "I'm flying to Chicago next week" you understand that they mean they are going to travel to Chicago by airplane. Therefore "I've never flown on a plane" is a little bit redundant. It sounds more natural to say "I've never flown" or "I've never been on an airplane."
The second issue is whether to say you're going in or on a plane. I'm sure there is a thread for this somewhere, but English is funny about which word to use for vehicles. If it is a small vehicle, such as a car, you say "I'm riding in the car," but for a large vehicle, such as a bus, you say "I'm riding on the bus." So if you were traveling in a very small airplane, you might say "I'll be getting in the plane at noon," but if you're traveling by commercial aircraft, you'd say "I'll be getting on the plane at noon."