を vs. で for Intransitive Motion Verbs


The following sentences are from a post on the [Particle を & Intransitive
Motion Verbs](https://nihononthego.tumblr.com/post/92042789505/grammar-
particle-%E3%82%92-intransitive-motion-verbs):

> Japanese: よくこの道を歩いた。  
>  English: I often walked along this street.
>
> Japanese: 毎日公園を走った。  
>  English: Every day I run through the park.
>
> Japanese: 鳥が空を飛んだ。  
>  English: The birds flew across the sky.

I was taught that the で particle indicates places that actions occur, or more
specifically indicates the _boundaries within which_ actions occur, or the
_means by which they occur_. With that in mind, it seems like で is a better
choice of particle in the above sentences?

**Question:** What is the difference in meaning between these sentence pairs
like the following:

> よくこの **道を** 歩いた。
>
> よくこの **道で** 歩いた。

> 毎日 **公園を** 走った。
>
> 毎日 **公園で** 走った。

> 鳥が **空を** 飛んだ。
>
> 鳥が **空で** 飛んだ。




**You basically cannot use で with these movement verbs.** A rare exception is
when the action does not involve the actual change of place, or when such a
change of place is not important at all as the purpose of the action. (EDIT:
Another exception is when で is clearly used as a method marker, e.g.,
電車ではなく高速道路で行きます "I'll go not by train but using a highway".)

この道で歩く is almost always nonsense, and you should say この道を歩く instead. However,
if the context is a strange YouTube streamer who sets up and uses his
treadmill in different places, then saying 昨日はこの道で歩いた, 今日はトイレで歩く, 明日は図書館で歩く
and so on make sense because he stays in the same place while doing the action
of walking.

公園を走る is much more common, but 公園で走る is also acceptable if the context is
where you do your everyday exercise (the purpose is the running itself rather
than the change of place). If the park is relatively small and you run over
the same place many times, 公園で走る can be more acceptable. Likewise, プールで泳ぐ is
typically more natural than プールを泳ぐ because the purpose is usually recreation
or exercise rather than traveling (you move back and forth within the same
narrow area).

鳥が空で飛ぶ usually makes little sense, but it can be used when talking about a
wounded bird that has been training to fly in a facility. When it finally
tries to fly in the sky as the last step of its training, you could say
明日その鳥は初めて空で飛ぶ or something like that (the flying action and the location are
important but the traveling is unimportant). 僕は部屋で飛ぶ is a reasonable
catchphrase of a flight simulation game (you are experiencing the flying
without actually traveling), and in this case 僕は部屋を飛ぶ makes no sense.




**You basically cannot use で with these movement verbs.** A rare exception is
when the action does not involve the actual change of place, or when such a
change of place is not important at all as the purpose of the action. (EDIT:
Another exception is when で is clearly used as a method marker, e.g.,
電車ではなく高速道路で行きます "I'll go not by train but using a highway".)

この道で歩く is almost always nonsense, and you should say この道を歩く instead. However,
if the context is a strange YouTube streamer who sets up and uses his
treadmill in different places, then saying 昨日はこの道で歩いた, 今日はトイレで歩く, 明日は図書館で歩く
and so on make sense because he stays in the same place while doing the action
of walking.

公園を走る is much more common, but 公園で走る is also acceptable if the context is
where you do your everyday exercise (the purpose is the running itself rather
than the change of place). If the park is relatively small and you run over
the same place many times, 公園で走る can be more acceptable. Likewise, プールで泳ぐ is
typically more natural than プールを泳ぐ because the purpose is usually recreation
or exercise rather than traveling (you move back and forth within the same
narrow area).

鳥が空で飛ぶ usually makes little sense, but it can be used when talking about a
wounded bird that has been training to fly in a facility. When it finally
tries to fly in the sky as the last step of its training, you could say
明日その鳥は初めて空で飛ぶ or something like that (the flying action and the location are
important but the traveling is unimportant). 僕は部屋で飛ぶ is a reasonable
catchphrase of a flight simulation game (you are experiencing the flying
without actually traveling), and in this case 僕は部屋を飛ぶ makes no sense.

