Re: Natural Order of Events

> Paul Kershaw <ptkershaw@...> wrote:
> The person who guides it: I ride (on) a horse, drive a car, pilot a
> plane, drive a bus, conduct a train.
In my English, one does not 'conduct' a train. I don't even know what
I WOULD say. The 'driver' is the engineer. I guess 'drive' is what I
would say.
"What do you do for a living?"
"I drive a train." I think the guy would say, "I'm an engineer on a
train."

The one who does 'conduct' is the conductor, the gentleman (lady?)
who passes through the train checking tickets, making sure everything
is all right.

> For me, if you drop the "on" to say "I ride a horse," that strongly
> implies that you're guiding the horse; if you're the second person
> on a horse that someone else is guiding, "I ride on a horse" sounds
> better.
I agree with you, but with an additional note: adding another element
to the sentence.
He rode a horse.
He rode a horse into town.
*He rode into town a horse.
One has to say, "He rode into town ON a horse."

Charlie