on the mountains / mountain ranges

A

anpuster

Senior Member
Chinese
High-altitude teas are grown on the mountains/mountain ranges.

I was wondering in this context which expression is more commonly used.

Many thanks!
 
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    • With absolutely no context for that simplistic statement, I’d probably just say that tea is often grown on mountains. But in a real context, it would almost certainly be appropriate to be more specific, by going into detail about the reasons for siting tea plantations at high altitude.
     
    lingobingo said:
    With absolutely no context for that simplistic statement, I’d probably just say that tea is often grown on mountains. But in a real context, it would almost certainly be appropriate to be more specific, by going into detail about the reasons for siting tea plantations at high altitude.
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    I'm not talking about teas grown on a random mountain, but grown for massive production on some tea-producing mountains/mountain ranges.
     
    anpuster said:
    I'm not talking about teas grown on a random mountain, but grown for massive production on some tea-producing mountains/mountain ranges.
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    :thank you: That's a little bit more context. However, isn't it obvious that "high altitude" teas are grown on mountains? Nobody mentioned a "random" mountain, so I think we are still unclear on your question.
     
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    JulianStuart said:
    :thank you: That's a little bit more context. However, isn't it obvious that "high altitude" teas are grown on mountains? Nobody mentioned a "random" moun tain, so I think we are still unclear on your question.
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    I think I am mainly confused about the differences between "mountain" and "mountain ranges". For example, a very famous type of green tea is produced in the Wuyi Mountains / Wuyi Mountain Ranges in China. In Chinese, the translation of "the Wuyi Mountains / Wuyi Mountain Ranges" are the same, but it seems that "mountains" and "mountain ranges" are two different concepts?
     
    No, not different concepts, as such. A mountain is just one, often with its own name. Mountains are mountains in general. A mountain range is a series of mountains with a specific name. You can use any of these terms to describe tea being grown on this sort of terrain, but it does depend on whether you’re making a generalised comment or describing a particular tea variety or plantation or region, etc.
     
    We would normally just refer to "{Name} mountains". In your mind, what's the extra information added by including "ranges". The Wuyi mountains and the Rocky mountains are two different mountain ranges. In the singular, each is a mountain range = mountains, not e.g., Wuyi mountain ranges.
     
    We probably wouldn't say that something is grown on a mountain, but that it is grown on the side of a mountain. It probably isn't grown at the top of the mountain or all the way around it either.

    It's not important to your original sentence that tea is grown throughout an entire mountain range or that the mountain is even part of a mountain range.
     
    Myridon said:
    We probably wouldn't say that something is grown on a mountain, but that it is grown on the side of a mountain. It probably isn't grown at the top of the mountain or all the way around it either.

    It's not important to your original sentence that tea is grown throughout an entire mountain range or that the mountain is even part of a mountain range.
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    Is it acceptable to say "grow tea in the mountains"?
     
    In the mountains is absolutely fine, in my opinion. It means that the tea is grown at high altitude, but not on any mountain or mountain range in particular. On the mountains is not a phrase that you will hear - on is the wrong preposition in this context.
     
    Gang-Gang said:
    In the mountains is absolutely fine, in my opinion. It means that the tea is grown at high altitude, but not on any mountain or mountain range in particular. On the mountains is not a phrase that you will hear - on is the wrong preposition in this context.
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    Is it acceptable to say that there are teas grown on this mountain (I’m referring to a specific mountain)?
     
    Yes! In the mountains is a general description of location, meaning up there somewhere at high altitude.
    Specifying the mountain by name usually requires the preposition on. On Mt Kilimanjaro. On the slopes of Mt Etna.
    Using in in either of these two examples is incorrect.

    I hope this helps.
     
    I think of "in the mountains" as meaning "in the mountainous region". If a region has lots of mountains, we can locate something there. It doesn't matter the exact elevation of each thing. For example, a resort town "in the mountains" might be in a low spot surrounded by mountains.
     
    lingobingo said:
    With absolutely no context for that simplistic statement, I’d probably just say that tea is often grown on mountains. But in a real context, it would almost certainly be appropriate to be more specific, by going into detail about the reasons for siting tea plantations at high altitude.
    Click to expand...
    What's the difference in meaning between "on the mountain" and "in the mountains"?
     
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