1. Forum
  2. USENET
  3. alt.usage.english

  • Re: circumstances and prepositions

    From guido wugi@wugi@brol.invalid to alt.usage.english,alt.english.usage on Thu Feb 26 12:23:28 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

    Op 13/02/2026 om 2:47 schreef Steve Hayes:
    A bloke just proofread a MS of mine, and recommended changing "in the circunstances" to "under the circumstances".

    When editing text, I've usually gone the other way, changing "under"
    to "in".

    I suppose if you are under the circumstances, the circumstances
    surround the epicentre.

    Which preposition do you prefer, and is there any particular reason
    for your choice?

    Dutch and German have "onder deze omstandigheden" and "unter den Umst|nnden". French and Spanish "dans ces circonstances" and "en estas circunstancias".

    Google Translate translates whatever preposition you put, eg
    D. "onder, in, tussen" -> E. "under, in, between".
    DeepL however sticks to "under".

    I understand "under" here as "amongst/between" (-#), like in "under
    friends" and related L,F,Sp "inter, entre".

    (-#) with interesting distinctions between(:) "among" and "between". Also
    in other languages, but not identical.
    --
    guido wugi
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2