"Esto quedó en su lugar."

Translation: This remained in its place.

[Len_H]

Why is "this was in his place" not acceptable, thank you

[pepe0001]

esto is referring to a thing, not a person

[wazzie]

That doesn't really answer the question
Like others, I was thinking: This (referring to an object) was in his place, or This lamp was in his place (I just picked a random object to illustrate a point, so don't let this be confusing.)
In hindsight, I can see that the direct translation is something more like, This (thing) remains in its (the things) place, but the drop down box suggested was and I am having a hard time thinking of a sentence where quedó would translate to was in the instance.

[rmcgwn]

This may help see quedar as a verb used in many ways.

http://spanish.about.com/od/usingparticularverbs/qt/using_quedar.htm

[Shafica]

I don't know. I wrote This was in your place. and it was accepted.

[rmcgwn]

Quedar (quedó third person past tense) Are you saying that in some situations you believe "was" is the acceptable translation? I've seen quedar [conjugated] as 'fit' 'stay' 'remain' but never 'was'. I don't know?

[Daniel-in-BC]

quedar is one of those words that can have multiple translations into English depending on the context. I've even heard it used (in Spanish) in the question "Where do you live?"

So, sometimes "was" can be the best translation into English, even though one would never say that quedar = "to be". We use "to be" in English for many things that the equivalent word would not be used for in other languages. (Please forgive the English grammar of that sentence.)

[pepe0001]

Yep, sometimes you just need to hear/see it in context many times before it becomes second nature.

[pepe0001]

It doesn't mean 'was'. It's saying it stayed or remained in place. Quedar refers to staying in place and can be reflexive.

[Len_H]

Should "spot" be an acceptable alternative to "place" in this sentence, thank you