In or Under Quarantine?
2022-02-26
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1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher we answer a question from Samuel in China. He writes,
2When I read the news, sometimes I see 'under quarantine', and at other times I see 'in quarantine.'
3Are they different in meaning? In the following sentence, which one should I use?
4Jerry left Hohhot for school in Hefei when the virus outbreak started in Hohhot.
5So, when he arrived in Hefei, he was put (under or in) quarantine in a quarantine hotel.
6Prepositions are tricky for Chinese English learners.
7I hope you can help clear my mind a little bit.
8Thank you in advance,
9Samuel, China.
10Dear Samuel,
11Thank you for writing to us.
12I am sure that almost everyone who is reading or hearing this knows that "quarantine" is the isolation of a person or a group of people to prevent the spread of infection to others.
13But it may not yet be clear how we use different prepositions with the word "quarantine."
14Let us begin with "under."
15Since May 2020, language researchers have collected what people are saying related to the pandemic in 20 different English-speaking countries.
16They call the result the Coronavirus Corpus.
17I searched in that collection and learned that "under quarantine" is much less common than "in quarantine."
18Here are some examples:
19All close contacts of the coronavirus cases have been placed under a quarantine order.
20Following his classmate's positive test, the 11-year-old was placed under quarantine on Thursday.
21Many countries put their entire populations under strict quarantine in order to prevent the virus from spreading.
22Compare these examples of how "in quarantine" appears.
23Some schools are offering meals to students in quarantine.
24New Zealand requires a 10-day stay in hotel quarantine for all travelers.
25Note that the words "put" and "place" appear before "under quarantine" in our examples.
26Often there is an official organization taking this kind of action.
27You can also find examples of putting or placing someone "in quarantine," but they are less common.
28The short answer to your question, Samuel, is that you would not be wrong to use either "under" or "in" before the word quarantine in your example,
29but English speakers would be more likely to use "under quarantine" after the verb "put" in the statement:
30When he arrived in Hefei, he was put under quarantine in a quarantine hotel.
31What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com
32And that's Ask a Teacher.
33I'm Jill Robbins.
1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher we answer a question from Samuel in China. He writes, 2Question: 3When I read the news, sometimes I see 'under quarantine', and at other times I see 'in quarantine.' Are they different in meaning? In the following sentence, which one should I use? 4Jerry left Hohhot for school in Hefei when the virus outbreak started in Hohhot. So, when he arrived in Hefei, he was put (under or in) quarantine in a quarantine hotel. 5Prepositions are tricky for Chinese English learners. I hope you can help clear my mind a little bit. 6Thank you in advance, 7Samuel, China. 8Answer: 9Dear Samuel, 10Thank you for writing to us. I am sure that almost everyone who is reading or hearing this knows that "quarantine" is the isolation of a person or a group of people to prevent the spread of infection to others. But it may not yet be clear how we use different prepositions with the word "quarantine." 11Let us begin with "under." 12Since May 2020, language researchers have collected what people are saying related to the pandemic in 20 different English-speaking countries. They call the result the Coronavirus Corpus. I searched in that collection and learned that "under quarantine" is much less common than "in quarantine." Here are some examples: 13All close contacts of the coronavirus cases have been placed under a quarantine order. 14Following his classmate's positive test, the 11-year-old was placed under quarantine on Thursday. 15Many countries put their entire populations under strict quarantine in order to prevent the virus from spreading. 16Compare these examples of how "in quarantine" appears. 17Some schools are offering meals to students in quarantine. 18New Zealand requires a 10-day stay in hotel quarantine for all travelers. 19Note that the words "put" and "place" appear before "under quarantine" in our examples. Often there is an official organization taking this kind of action. You can also find examples of putting or placing someone "in quarantine," but they are less common. 20The short answer to your question, Samuel, is that you would not be wrong to use either "under" or "in" before the word quarantine in your example, but English speakers would be more likely to use "under quarantine" after the verb "put" in the statement: 21When he arrived in Hefei, he was put under quarantine in a quarantine hotel. 22What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com 23And that's Ask a Teacher. 24I'm Jill Robbins. 25Dr. Jill Robbins wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 26____________________________________________________________ 27Words in This Story 28sentence - n. a group of words, usually containing a verb, that expresses a thought in the form of a statement, question, instruction, or exclamation and starts with a capital letter when written 29tricky - adj. difficult to deal with and needs careful attention or skill 30positive - adj. on a medical test, showing the presence of a virus or other infection 31Do you have a question for the teacher? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.