My car broke down in /at King’s Road

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
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My car broke down in /at King’s Road.

Which is the correct preposition?

Thanks.

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I think it depends where exactly the car broke down. If you want to say that it happened while driving down King’s Road you could choose ‘in’ and ‘on’. When it happened at a crossroads or junction ‘at’ would probably work. Let’s see what @Alan and @Anglophile think. Maybe @Andrea will share her view too now that she has started her summer vacation :smile:

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I’d recommend either on or at but not in.

If you do not know the exact place where the car broke down, you may use on since King’s Road might span a long distance.throughout which it will be called King’s Road, and if you know the specific place on King’s Road, you may use at.

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I agree with Torsten. It really depends where it happened. All three prepositions can be used.

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Sorry Lawrence, I have to disagree with you here. In the above we are talking about a road, not a precise place. You would say -

My car broke down at the junction of Acacia Avenue with Green Lane.

                                     Or

My car broke down in Acacia Avenue/Green Lane

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Many thanks to all of you.

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Alan, I do agree with you when you say “My car broke down at the junction of Acacia Avenue with Green Lane.” Here, yes, the junction is a ‘precise place’ which is what I also meant. I’m afraid I was not as clear.

Now, as regards the ‘in’ in your sentence “My car broke down in Acacia Avenue/Green Lane”, I think my having been familiar with the phrase ‘on/along the road’, ‘on the lane’ etc fails to convince me completely.

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