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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=2>Devon Coles queried:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>In a news report regarding a hockey player taken to court
for excessive roughness, the announcer included details of a previous case in
which the defendent had "hit his opponent in the head with a hockey
stick."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>The student asked why "in" - not "on the head." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Certainly a different mental image is conjured when I say "he
was hit on the head" and "he was hit in the head," but that's hardly a helpful
answer for a non-native speaker. </FONT><FONT size=2>We can be hit "in the gut"
but it would sound odd to say we've been hit "on the gut." And in boxing, we
hear a hit "to" the shoulder or head.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I thought about the need for a human mechanism as opposed to a
falling rock or other inanimate object, but that didn't go very far. (He was hit
on the head by a falling rock, Joe hit him in the head . . . the wind blew
in his face . . . etc.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I also thought about the site of impact - yes, the gut is
sometimes soft and squishy but most heads are pretty solid.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>So, aside from slang and idiom ("hit on" meaning to chat up or
make a pass at, or "hit on an idea" meaning to gain inspiration in thought) I
haven't been able to make a suitable rule to sort out these prepositional
Shiboleths that mark the speaker. If this has been discussed before, will you
let me know where I can find it? If not, will you take a crack at it? I need a
ready explanation that will be accessible to advanced ESL
learners.</FONT></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">Richard Deegan replied:<BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I explain it as dealing iwth location-movement. Medical usage
is "Where does it hurt? In my...." Has to do with hit.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My response is:</DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>The logic of the medical usage, which I think
helps explain much of this, concerns where the pain or injury is perceived. An
injury of being "hit on the head" would imply a bump, bruise, or lump on the
scalp or skull. "Hit in the head" would signal to a medical person a brain
injury or concussion. Similarly, "Hit in the gut" implies an internal abdominal
injury or pain, compared to "hit on my stomach/abdomen/gut" which would leave an
external bruise. In the boxing example, a "hit to the shoulder" also has an
external implication., when compared to the penetrating injury of being "shot in
the shoulder."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Hope this explanation from a non-linguist helps
a bit.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Sharyn Hay, RNC, MSN</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>