Joshua grew up ON a farm...

A farm is built on an area of land. You would grow up living on top of the land, not buried inside it, right?

Some places are like this. On a lake, on the ocean, on a piece of land, on a hill, on a reservation, on the field. I don't know if there's any logic to it because we also say in the yard, in the garden, in England. I can't think of a rule to know the difference.

I see now. I was thinking of a farm as a city or a room.

**In**, **on** and **at** have got to be very confusing for people learning English. **On** a boat, wagon, bicycle, motorcycle, horse. **In** a bus, plane, car, spaceship. **In** a subway vs **on** a subway **On** the first Wednesday **in** March **at** 1:00 pm **in** 2025. **At** a play vs **in** a play. I work **in** TV. I am **on** TV. **At** first I didn’t know that the guy who was **on** first came **in** first. We were **at** the beach. We played volleyball **on** the beach. The plane is leaving **on** time **at** gate 21 **in** concourse C. Playing **on** a field vs working **in** a field **At** hand, **on** hand, **in hand** Hang in there! You'll get the hang of it!

Prepositions are just weird. There's some logic and some just because. Things outside like ranches and farms are on, except the you can be in a field or valley, but on a football field. As someone else noted you are on a mountain, but in the mountains. You are in the grass or on the lawn. You get in ot on a plane, but then you are on the plane. You can get in a boat and then be on a boat. But while you can get in a car, the only way you can be on a car is sitting or standing on top on it.

"Farm" here is referring to the entire piece of land, the farmhouse, coops, fields, stuff like that. "In" is used for other types of settlements ("in a village", "in a city", "in a big town"). A farm is technically a kind of settlement, but a very small one that houses maybe one family and some staff, so it doesn't get to be "in".

Prepositions are tricky and idiomatic in every language. As a general rule in English, one does something IN anything that can be imagined to surround or enclose you. One does something ON a surface ("Hang it ON the wall") or an area which has no connotation of definite boundary or enclosure ("We camped ON the mountain"). It happened IN the barn ON the farm. The players were ON the field IN the stadium IN the city. *Note: I know that people are going to come up with loads of exceptions, so have at it!*

This is more of a case where I can’t reason “on” versus “at,” I just know what’s appropriate. Compare that to being “at” a concert. You could argue that a concert can be indoors or outdoors so that’s why you say “at.” But then there’s stuff like “on a ship,” when you could be inside the ship.

There’s a few rules generally. And some places break those rules. On implies on top of. So if the thing is not enclosed that you stay inside. You can say on. If it has a clear boundary is enclosed generally, you would say in because you are inside of something. Some notable differences: you are on the bus. Even though it’s enclosed. You are in a relationship, even though there’s no physical boundary.

There are reasons that help identify on vs in that are about relationships. Many of the ways we use prepositions involve spatial relationships. Almost half of our uses of prepositions do not refer to spatial relationships at all, they are conceptual or idiomatic (we are **in** love, you are **in** danger, the kitchen is **on fire**, the train is **on time**, etc.) Let's just think about the spatial uses and keep things simple. These involve abstract thinking about something located and its surroundings. The main things to consider are - is the relationship one where the located object can be thought of as "the boss" of the relationship, or do we tend to think of the surroundings as having a greater dominance in the relationship? - is the relationship one of contact or one of inclusion? These are often helpful questions to answer when trying to decide between in or on. Generally, when the **located object** seems to have **greater control** over the relationship (is "the boss") then **on** conveys this. Similarly, when the **surroundings** seem to have **greater control** over the relationship or control over the object, then **in** conveys this. Generally, when the located object is simply in **contact** with the surroundings then we tend to use **on**. When the surroundings can be thought of as **including** the located object the we tend to use **in**. Let's look at Joshua: Joshua lives **on** a farm. The farm is a limited immediate surrounding that Joshua and his family own and control. Joshua has agency over the farm through his daily contact with it. Joshua lives **in** the country, not the city. The country is an imprecise large rural area that includes Joshua and his farm and many other farms and people. Joshua, the other people, and all the farms are contained by the country. There are many conditions and variables that Joshua has no knowledge of and no control over that are a part of the surrounding country. Joshua is the located object who has greater control over and awareness of his immediate surroundings **on** the farm. Joshua is the located object whose wider surroundings of the country include him and his farm. He is contained by these greater rural surroundings which influence, impact and effect his life in many ways he is not even aware of and cannot control. So he lives **in** the country. So there are cognitive reasons for using in and on that involve our understanding of the nature of the relationship between an object and its surroundings. This won't help you with every single different use of **in** and **on** in English but it can probably help roughly half of the time.

it is on the farm just like it is on the property. it’s like you can be at school but on school grounds. idk man.

In the heads of native speakers, ok maybe it’s just me, “farm” isn’t the barn or any building on the property. It’s describing that piece of land. You would also say on a mountain top, on a grassy plain, on a cattle ranch. It really is what you’re ON that we think about, not what you are INSIDE.

You can’t always use logic to figure out preposition choice. A farm is something you are “on” like an island, plain, mountain, prairie, or range, not something you are “in” like a city, county, state, forest, park, or building.

On is like on top of, In is like inside of or within an enclosed space. You can't go inside a farm, it's a piece of land. The only usage of in vs on that's mostly convention would be when referencing time since it's a gray area, those need memorization and you kinda have to accept that it's the way it is because it's the way it is.