alexander koryagin wrote to Roy Witt:

 ak>>> A car driver knocked down a pedestrian at a pedestrian crossing.
 ak>>> The driver to the pedestrian: "Oh, you are lucky today! I am a
 ak>>> doctor!" The pedestrian: "But you a not lucky. I am a lawyer."

 RW>> A car driver knocked down a pedestrian in a pedestrian crosswalk.

 ak> BTW, I am often confused about prepositions "at" and "in" in cases
 ak> when I tell about crosswalks and squares. For instance, I understand,
 ak> that a street is something long and it is not a place, is not a
 ak> point. So I use "in", for example:

 ak> There is a man in the street.

This would be correct for someone who is actually in the street. There is
also a correct way to say 'the man on the street' as a general term as a
news reporter doing remote radio or TV broadcasting.

In the above example, a pedestrian crosswalk is in the street and a
pedestrian should be in the crosswalk.

 ak> But what if I tell about a point, a place, where something has
 ak> happened? Can I use "at"? IMHO it is quite logical, especially when I
 ak> tell about the place:

 ak> "Where is John?" "He is at the market" "Where is his monument?" "It
 ak> is at Trafalgar Square."

Quite correct. However, he can also be in the market, shopping. You could
also get more specific with: 'It is at Trafalgar Square, next to George
Washington's statue.'

 ak> <skipped>

 ak>>> The most reliable shelters against Russia's nuclear rockets are
 ak>>> under American banks.
 RW>> The most reliable shelter against Russian nuclear bombs are in the
 RW>> vaults of Georgian banks.

 ak> Where are they? In Georgia, the Caucasus? 

Where are the banks in Georgia? I have no idea as I've never been there.
The above was just an example of your statement. American banks do have
underground vaults, but many bank vaults are above ground in such places
that have no basements.

 RW>> Russian rockets would be intercepted and destroyed by American
 RW>> satellites using rocket killer lasers from space.

 ak> Can we have in Russia laser killers for the American satellites? 

Probably...just as America has spy satelites looking in your bathroom
window. 8^)

 ak>>> If you want your guests to be off, ask them for money. If you want
 ak>>> them to stay, ask for advice.

 RW>> If you want your guests to leave, ask them for money. If you want
 RW>> them to stay, ask them for advice.

 ak> I wonder, maybe "be off" is more rude, and therefore is more apt when
 ak> it applied to annoying guests? 

No, I think 'be off' is a British way of saying 'leave' in American
English.

You should be aware that all English dialects are not the same. American,
Australian, British, Canadian and Hong Kong English are just a few of
them. All are spoken and written with differences only a native English
speaker can detect and understand, Even then, some of it has to be
explained to us. Sometimes, I have to have a New England American citizen
repeat themselves because their speach is too often not understood in
Texas, or the rest of the country for that matter.

For instance the use of 'mate' in British, Australian and perhaps Canadian
means 'friend' in American English. The little English that I've heard
spoken in Hong Kong has been over Chinese news casts by satelite TV and
they speak English there the same as the CNN or FOX news channels here in
America. You would think that they, being a former British colony, would
speak English with a British accent, but they do not.


         R\%/itt


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