"in street" or "on street"?

[Andrey_From_Khabarovsk]

Hi everybody.
I've got a tricky question. How to say it grammatical: "I live in King Street" or "I live on King Street"?
The first variant is in the "English Grammar in Use" by Raymond Murphy, Cambridge University Press and the second one is in the "Preposition Practice" by L.L.Keane, Longman Publishing Group.

[Yankee]

Hi Andrey

In American English, we would say "I live on King Street".

I think people in the UK use either "in" or "on" in such a sentence.
.
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Alan]

Hi,

Out of interest there is a song from the musical (which is American) My Fair Lady based on the play, Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw (who was Irish) where one of the main male characters sings of his infatuation for the principal female character, Eliza (who is English):

[MrPedantic]

I'm not sure which form is more common in the north of England, but I would say that in the south of England you would usually hear e.g. "I live in King Street"; though "on" is sometimes used with "the High Street" (or, in the West Country, "Fore St"), e.g.

1a. I live on the High Street, just past the Odeon.
1b. I live on Willesden High Street, just past the Odeon.

"On" is also sometimes used with roads whose name indicates their function or character, e.g.

2. I live on the London Road.
3. I live on Chesil Rise.

I would probably also use "on" for "streets" of Roman origin, e.g.

4. I used to live on Watling Street, just outside St Albans.

MrP

[Alan]

Hi,

To me 'in' is the favoured preposition associated with 'living' referring to the name of a road,lane.street or whatever. To my mind 'on' with those words suggests objects physically situated there such as buildings,premises, obstacles, roadworks and so on or indeed following along those routes. I would therefore live in Acacia Avenue, travel to work on the B456 sometimes when there were roadworks on the A1 motorway.

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[Yankee]

Thanks for the detailed input, MrP and Alan. :D

Returning to Andrey's question, both "in" and "on" are grammatically correct in your sentence. To sum everything up, Raymond Murphy is British, and L.L. Keane is American -- that's why they use different prepositions in that particular sentence.
.
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[MrPedantic]

[Molly]

[Nessie]

[Molly]

[MrPedantic]

Hello Nessie,

In BrE, if the road name contains "street", you never use "the". Thus:

1. I live in King St.
2. Drive along King St and take the first turning on the left.

The exception is High Street, where the name describes its function. Then either form is available:

3. I live in Kensington High St.
4. I've got to meet him in the high street. [Your addressee knows you mean High St Kensington.]

Capitalisation is not required, if you use the article.

If the road name contains "road", in the case of a main road whose name describes its direction, again, both forms are available. Thus:

5. I live in London Road.
6. Take the London road and turn off just before you reach the junction with the A30.

I would say that the second form tends to turn up in "travel" contexts.

In some cases, however, one form is dominant:

7. I live on/in the Old Kent Road.

Best wishes,

MrP

[Yankee]

.
This is a situation in which American English is far less complicated: :lol:

I live on Main Street.
I live on the main street.
His shop is located on Broadway.
I parked on a side street.
There was a three-car accident on I95.
We drove to California on Route 66.
We drive on the right side of the road in the US. 8)
.
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Molly]

[MrPedantic]

In addresses, capitalisation is required. In examples such as my earlier #4, where a proper name is replaced by a descriptive phrase, capitalisation is not required.

MrP

[Molly]