in or on

[keitra]

What is the differnce between 'He sat down on a stool.' and 'He sat down in a stool.'?

[mikewith]

Quite a bit! To sit ON a stool is to be recumbant on a piece of furniture, usually comprising a base and three legs, built for the purpose -- and assuch not something you can sit IN.

To sit IN a stool is to find your posterior displacing the faeces of an animal or human being as it settles on a surface, usually by accident...

The confusion may arise from the fact that while you sit ON a stool you sit IN a chair... and that's a convention of the language which probably derives from the fact that while a stool is just base and legs, a chair has a back and perhaps armrests and as you sit in it it can feel like you're within something.

[Stewart]

Mikewith Agree with you in principle (yes that is the right word!) but I would sit ON a chair, and probably any other "seat". I would sit IN a car or a room. So I could sit ON a chair IN the waiting room. Sorry if I have confused it all further. I would certainly not knowingly sit IN a stool. Definitely no dispute on that one.