Antonija  +  236379 Thu, 15 Jun 06 11:20 AM Hi! I'm looking for a suitable preposition. Thank you   Oil is transported through rivers in river tankers (tugs). Antonija Joined on Sun, Mar 5 2006 Croatia Contributing Member 1,248 Prepositions

	pieanne  +  236388 Thu, 15 Jun 06 11:28 AM ... is transported in tugs via the rivers? (You don't mean "accross", do you?) pieanne Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005 South of France ...But I'm Belgian! Veteran Member 7,517 I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

	Philip  +  236455 Thu, 15 Jun 06 05:34 PM  Antonija wrote: Hi! I'm looking for a suitable preposition. Thank you   Oil is transported through rivers in river tankers (tugs). I would use "on". Philip Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005 Veteran Member 8,604 At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen Prepositions

	Likeguslee  +  237252 Sun, 18 Jun 06 02:48 AM Oil is not transported through or on rivers because that would imply that oil can travel through or on rivers. What you are trying to express is the route by which oil is transported. Therefore, you should use “via”. Oil is transported via the waterways in river tankers (tugs) if you don’t want to repeat “rivers”. Likeguslee Joined on Mon, Jun 5 2006 USA Full Member 330

	MrPedantic  +  237406 Sun, 18 Jun 06 03:28 PM "Along", perhaps. MrP MrPedantic Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004 Veteran Member 13,616 ...opella forensis / adducit febris...

	Philip  +  237773 Mon, 19 Jun 06 04:46 PM  Likeguslee wrote: Oil is not transported through or on rivers because that would imply that oil can travel through or on rivers. What you are trying to express is the route by which oil is transported. Therefore, you should use “via”. Oil is transported via the waterways in river tankers (tugs) if you don’t want to repeat “rivers”. One cannot argue your logic in precision.  But we often speak, assuming the listener fills in the gaps of what we have omitted..  My tour of China a couple of months ago included three nights on the Yangtse River [fact].  I'm sure your mental image is of me on a cruise ship rather than on the water, literally. Not long ago an elderly friend said that she and her husband were going away for the weekend, planning to stay at the river's edge.  I asked her if they wouldn't be more comfortable in a motel.  I was fully aware that she had said "The River's Edge", the name of a lodge there.  "In" the River's Edge would have been, perhaps, more precise, but it would have ruined my play on words. Philip TSE

	MrPedantic  +  237905 Tue, 20 Jun 06 12:31 AM I don't myself find "on rivers" objectionable. "Oil is transported upstream", perhaps. (Except when it's transported downstream.) MrP MrPedantic