And you don’t always have to be in Kensington for the addressee to know where you mean.
What about “at”? I had learned we only use at when the number of the building is mentioned, but recently I have seen an example on a book:
I live at 4th Street. (although 4th would be a number it refers to the name of the street here)
I live at 798 Main Ave. (here it refers to the number of the building)
So, what’s the difference? American X British?
Hi Vi
Basically, we use “at” to refer to a specific street address or location.
In other words, we use “at” when we give an address – i.e. a street and a street number, as in your example:
- I live at 798 Main Street.
We also use “at” to refer to a location such as a specific intersection:
- I live at the corner of Elm Street and Fifth Avenue.
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That’s the point, I saw it on a school book:
“make a left at 48th Street” (this is not a street address)
Would it be because it suggests it is at the corner of? Or is it wrong?
Hi Vi
Yes, that’s the general idea. What the speaker basically means is “turn left at the point where 48th Street intersects (the street you’re already on)”. The speaker is looking at the place where you have to turn as a specific point/location.
However, in this particular context you will also hear people say "Turn left on/onto 48th Street. (The Brits might use “in/into” in this context.)
Also keep in mind that “48th Street” is the name of a street, and not a house or building number. So, if you live on 48th Street and your house number is 623, you could say “I live at 623 Forty-eighth Street”.
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Thanks for your reply, Yankee.
Hi Amy,
First of all, thanks a lot for the useful link. I also have some query about it:
From this I understand that ‘Main Street’ is the American equivalent of ‘High Street’ (BrE), but I was confused when reading on:
From this it seems that both terms ‘High Street’ and ‘Main Street’ are used in the UK.
So, my two quotes seem to be so contradictory…
Many thanks,
Nessie.
Hello Nessie,
In England, you would be more likely to encounter a “Main St” in a village or small town (much like “Fore St” in Cornwall). It might well be largely residential.
“High St” on the other hand implies in general usage a shopping street. To add to the confusion, you can say you’re “going to the high street” in a town without a street called “High”, if your implication is “the chief shopping street”.
I would guess that most people in England have experience of a “High St”, rather than a “Main St”. If you were to tell me that you lived in Main St, I would immediately picture a charming village with an antiques shop or two, or perhaps an old Scottish town, in venerable grey stone, with a decaying castle; but if you said you lived in the high street, I would picture supermarkets and the Golden Arches.
Best wishes,
MrP
Hi Nessie
There are probably millions of proper names for streets – among those proper names are “High Street” and “Main Street”. (Note the capitalization!) Both of those are common names for streets in the US.
In my part of the world, we would refer generally/generically to the primary street in a town as being “the main street”. That is basically a descriptive reference to the type of street, not the actual name of the street. In bigger towns and in cities, there might be a number of main streets. These main streets typically have things such as shops, banks and other businesses located on them. They are not usually residential streets (or not primarily residential anyway).
The proper name of the main/primary street in the town where I grew up is “Broadway”. The town where I grew up has neither a street named “Main Street” nor a street named “High Street”.
However, the town next to my hometown has both a street named “Main Street” and a street named “High Street”. :lol: There the street named “Main Street” is the primary street in town on which businesses are located. In that town, the street called “Main Street” is also one of the main/primary streets. It also runs all the way through the town – from the northern side of town to the southern side. So, in that particular town “Main Street” is also the main/primary “through road”.
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If you exchange “main” and “high”, Amy’s post applies to my experience too.
I think that’s the tricky part – that it’s essentially descriptive, but can be treated as a proper name.
MrP
Hi Amy,
=> Why do you write that? What’s the difference between ‘generally’ and ‘generically’?
Hi MrP,
=> When can it usually be treated as a proper name? (From your posts and Amy’s, I see that there can be quite a lot of ‘high streets’ or ‘main streets’ in a town.)
Many thanks,
Nessie.
Hello Nessie,
You would usually only find one high street in an English town – sorry if my post misled you.
Some high streets are labelled “High Street”, e.g. High Street Kensington; which is therefore a proper name.
However, the phrase “high street” can also be used to describe the principal shopping street in a town, even if the street itself has a different name. Thus if a news item says e.g. “Sales are low in Britain’s high streets this Christmas”, it refers to all principal shopping streets. In this usage, “high street” is not a proper name, but is simply descriptive.
Best wishes,
MrP
Wouldn’t be the first time.
Hi MrP,
Thanks a lot for your explanation. Things are very clear now
Hi Amy,
Could your please answer my last question: Why did you say ‘generally/generically’?
Many thanks,
Nessie.
Hi Nessie
See definition 1 here and definitions 1 and 3b here. The word “generic” came to mind because when you refer “generically” to a main street you are not using a proper name. Instead, a reference to “main street” would be a reference to a certain type of street (descriptive). You might compare this to Advil and ibuprofen. The word ibuporfen is the generic name of a certain type of drug, and Advil is the proper name (a brand name) for ibuprofen sold by a certain company.
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A variation, which I heard on the radio this morning:
- Confidence is the lowest it’s been for 30 years in the high street.
Here, “in the high street” means “in the main places where people go to shop”.
MrP