Caught on fire

I can't recall any discussion in aue of the usage of "caught on fire", vs. "caught fire", and Google doesn't find anything either.

This morning, on a local radio station, the news guy used the phrase "caught on fire" three times during a story.

A Google search yields 1.8 million hits for "caught fire", and 394,000 for "caught on fire".

Does anyone here find it normal or acceptable?

Reply to
Oleg Lego
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On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 23:56:14 -0600, Oleg Lego posted:

Sorry folks, this was meant for alt.usage.english

Reply to
Oleg Lego

That was not spam, Brian. It was a misdirected post.

Spam has a very specific set of meanings, and just being unrelated to the newsgroup discussions is not included in that set of meanings.

Reply to
Oleg Lego

Now that you brought it up, please return and let us know what the definitive answer is. My guess is it "caught fire" and once it did, it was "on fire".

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 23:39:23 GMT, Edwin Pawlowski posted:

For the most part, "caught fire" is what the folks on that newsgroup would say, but "caught on fire" is common enough to have achieved some legitimacy. Such is the way of English.

Reply to
Oleg Lego

Hmmm what the hell differance does it make whether it " caught fire" or " caught on fire " ? by the time it gets done burning what ever it was aint gonna be worth a damn anyways !!

']['unes

Reply to
']['unez

On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 07:30:26 -0700, ']['unez posted:

The newsgroup for which the post was intended, takes a great interest in the usage of words and phrases in English. I only posted the result at Edwin's request.

Reply to
Oleg Lego

This morning, on a local radio station, the news guy used the phrase > "caught on fire" three times during a story. > > A Google search yields 1.8 million hits for "caught fire", and 394,000 > for "caught on fire". > > Does anyone here find it normal or acceptable?

So which is correct or what does this phrase mean?

"I couldn't care less" or "I could care less."

Do they both have the same meaning?

Reply to
southluke

On Thu, 09 Aug 2007 01:17:19 -0500, southluke posted:

There has been a lot of discussion about these on alt.english.usage. I would suggest searching with Google or dropping over to aue and asking there, where it is on-topic.

Reply to
Oleg Lego

You say Tomaytoe I say Tomahtoe Lets call the whole thing off.

']['unes

Reply to
']['unez

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