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ESL forum >
Ask for help > PREPOSITIONS
PREPOSITIONS
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Yolandaprieto
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PREPOSITIONS
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Hello everybody,
Here I am again with a question I have already asked twice but there are still people who haven �t got a clear idea about it.
Yesterday I went to a lecture about phonetics and classroom language for teachers who teach a different subject (science, drawing, maths, etc...) in English and as I am the coordinator of the bilingual section, I also attended the lecture. The lecturer was Scottish and told us that we could say "Open your books at page 15" but not "to page 15" as some of you told me here on this forum some time ago. And all the other teachers said that they used "Open your books ON page 15". The lecturer said that he was not sure about this possibility.
The conclusion I took was that "open your books AT page 15" is the only correct possiblitity for everybody. AM I RIGHT �?
Thanks for your help and patience
Yolanda
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18 Jan 2011
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Zora
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Hate to say this but your lecturer isn �t very well versed in "what is and what isn �t"... Open your books TO page 15, is correct. In fact, he probably isn �t aware Can./Amer. say "On the weekend" instead of "at". I am afraid that some of these lecturers are just that - lecturers... they have little insight to what "real Global English is".
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18 Jan 2011
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ldthemagicman
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Dear Yolanda,
I cannot answer for the rest of the English-Speaking world, but here in the UK, we say: "Open your books AT page 15".
I have never heard a native English speaker say: "Open your books ON page 15", nor: "Open your books TO page 15".
However, it is possible to say: "Your book is open AT page 15, now turn TO page 45, (go TO page 45), please!"
It is also possible to say: "The article which was written by Yolandaprieto is ON page 45".
I hope that this helps you.
Les |
18 Jan 2011
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izulia
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Les,
Your answers are always so precise, to the point and have all the necessary detail. Your students must be lucky to have a teacher like you. |
18 Jan 2011
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izulia
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Les,
Your answers are always so precise, to the point and have all the necessary detail. Your students must be lucky to have a teacher like you. |
18 Jan 2011
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erika201167
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Your are right dear native teacher, the correct sentence is open your book AT page ...
it was one of my first concer when I started teaching English and after a throughfully investigation, just as my dear college, I found the correct answer
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18 Jan 2011
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almaz
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The consensus of the �old discussion � (started by Yolanda with the participation of Zora) was that, depending on which hemisphere/continent you grew up in, both �at � and �to � are correct (not just �to �) and that the use of �on � is possibly based on what seems to be a fairly widespread mis-hearing (although, who knows, it may already have become an accepted usage as a World English variation).
Oh, by the way, did I ever tell you that my front windows open on to the local basketball court (how I hate the sound of squeaky trainers)? Or should that be open onto ...? |
18 Jan 2011
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Yolandaprieto
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I have always said "overlook a basketball court" but I am sure that "open onto" is the correct one.
Yolanda |
18 Jan 2011
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almaz
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I was being slightly disingenuous, Yolanda. The preposition onto is still considered by some sniffy Brits as a terribly American vulgarism and should one really need to use it, then the two-word form on to is preferable - particularly when one needs to be reminded that on also works as an adverb (pass on a message etc). |
18 Jan 2011
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douglas
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Googlefight places "open your books at" slightly ahead of "open your books to"- the results were 239 million to 246 million, so they are obviously both common use.
EDIT: Ran it a second time and "to" won 381 million to 380 million!
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18 Jan 2011
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