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/lit/ - Literature

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4675047 No.4675047 [Reply] [Original]

If you were going to describe events happening on television in 3rd person past tense, would you say:

The car on the television show swerved.
or
The car in the television show swerved.

>> No.4675111

>>4675047
bump

>> No.4675114

of

>> No.4675117

I'd say "in" because it gives the feeling of, I dunno, the events in the television being concurrent with reality.

>> No.4675120

>>4675047
in

>> No.4675123

>>4675117
Wait, shit, I thought about it, and "on" sounds more correct. Which probably means that either is fine as long as you're consistent.

>> No.4675128

Well, you're not going to be "on" a book or "on" a play, but you might be "in" a play or "in" a book.
So I'd go with "in a television show" or "on television".

>> No.4675227

>>4675120
>>4675123
>>4675128
Yeah I have no idea.

>>4675114
The car of the television show?

>> No.4675296

>>4675227
the car IN the television show or the car ON television, is what I meant

>> No.4675549

>>4675296
"On screen, the car swerved"

"On TV, the car swerved"

"His eyeballs absorbed the electrons of the plasma-screen-pixelated simulacrum of a 'car' appearing to 'swerve'."

"The car in the television show swerved."

"The car on television swerved."

>> No.4675572

>>4675128

Nicely put.

You can still get away with using 'on' though as demonstrated:

>>4675549

>> No.4675606

The connotations change based on your subject and the exact way you're referring to the television program.

"He made an appearance on her talk show."

"Jack dies in this episode."

When it comes to your car, saying "in" makes me think of what you're actually watching happen the box in front of you, while "on" makes me think more of an active or ongoing role, especially in the sense of a live (or daily prerecorded) show. So there's a car IN Knight Rider, but a car is featured ON Jay Leno. With just the generic way you phrased it, I would go with "The car in the television show swerved."

>> No.4675649

>>4675606
So. Let's get modal, then.

"On the TV, the car swerved." We are observing from the space containing the television. The TV is an object in the setting of the scene.

"In the show, the car swerved." By invoking the nested narrative, we are perpspectivally framed into the eyeballs of the character engaged with the show as a show.

That's pretty advanced. But is is also the case.

>> No.4675920

>>4675606
>>4675649
OP here, thanks for the help. I went with "in"

>> No.4675954

>Some distant blinking light could have represented a car swerving either left or right. I couldn't tell which, nor did I care. Not while the dimethyltryptamine kicked in.