Can I use verb "to ride" referring to a car?

Question

If I'm behind the wheel, "I'm driving". But if I am in the back seat or the passenger front seat what am I doing? Am I riding in the car?"

"I rode 20 miles." (My Dad was the driver.)

"We are riding the through the tunnel."

Are the above sentences common and correct?

Barrie England · Accepted Answer

You can, but you have to be sensitive to the context. Anyone reading your two examples in isolation would not immediately think you were in a car. By contrast, when we hear Chuck Berry sing

Ridin' along in my automobile 
  
  My baby beside me at the wheel

it is clear not only that he is in a car, but that he is also driving it.

Can I use verb "to ride" referring to a car?

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