Hi, Ardith Hinton! -> Alexander Koryagin
I read your message from 12.10.2020 13:31
In English, if an American has flown to Moon -- does it mean he
has been there? For instance, Apollo 13 was on its way to the
Moon, but it had not been on the Moon. Or we should make the
information more exact and say "he has been on the Moon". Is "on
the Moon" legal?
I don't know of any jurisdiction where... as Henry Higgins put
it... "the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue" is an
indictable offence. You could say "acceptable" or "permissible" in
a question like this, however.: - Q
If Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon in 1989 I see no problem
with saying Apollo 11 went to the moon or that he has been there.
If... as someone in another echo claims... the incident was filmed
in a Hollywood movie studio, I'd say this person allegedly walked
on the moon.
I imagine you've also read news reports about an aeroplane which
was en route to SomePlace Else when it crash-landed in the ocean. I
gather Apollo 13 was on its way to the moon, but never actually
arrived on the moon....
If an American can say that he is on a train, surely he can say he
is/was on the Moon. ;)
Bye, Ardith!
Alexander Koryagin
english_tutor 2020
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* Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)