place clause

[navi]

1-John shot Harry in his car.
2-In his car, John shot Harry.

3-John saw Harry in his car.
4-In his car, John saw Harry.

If we exclude the possiblity that they are both in the car, in which case:
a-John is in the car.
b-Harry is in the car.
c-We can't tell for sure.

and in which case
d-The car belongs to John.
e-the car belongs to Harry.
f-We can't tell.

[Alan]

1 & 3: b - f.

2 & 4 are inadmissible, since both imply that both men were in the car.

To mean that John was in (probably, but not definitely) his own car and shot/saw Harry, we would say

John saw/shot Harry FROM his car.

and to be absolutely certain as to the ownership, you would have to specify from John's car....

[navi]

Thank you Alan,

One more question:
Let us say you want to answer the question:
-"What did John do in his car?"
Would you still say:
"He shot Harry FROM his car."?
Can't one use:
"He shot Harry (in his car)."?
in this case?

[Alan]

No. You would still have to ask 'What did he do FROM his car?' if you wished to elicit that as a possible response. On the other hand, you might ask 'What did he do in his car?' to elicit an answer such as 'He used a gun'. That would still tend to suggest, though, that the action of using the gun was confined to the area inside the car, and did not affect anyone or anything outside.

[navi]

Thanks again Alan,
I think I have to apologize because once more I have formulated my question rather badly.

Imagine the following conversation:

-What did John do after talking to Sally.
-He went in his car.
-And what did he do in his car?

How would you answer this question if the fact of the matter is that John shot Harry from his car?

[Alan]

He took out a gun and shot Harry from the car!

[navi]

Got it. Thanks Alan.