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Ask for help > on or at?
on or at?
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joy2bill
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It is really brilliant seeing questions like this because there are so many tricky bits in English, especially prepositions.
I often see some very basic errors in the Forum and in worksheets which make me cringe but I feel bad if I correct someone. 
However if the person making the mistake was a student, we would all consider it our duty to help them, wouldn �t we?
As you probably know once a mistake becomes fossilised it is very hard to eradicate it. Don �t we all have the responsibility to keep improving our knowledge and not pass on our errors to our students?
I have been speaking English for over 60 years but I still make mistakes and I �m not afraid to ask the students to find and correct them. (They get a sweet as a reward.)
Anyway my point is: let �s use this site to help each other. All you teachers from non-speaking countries have your own personal tutor in all the native speakers here. Use us! I, for one, are happy to help. 
G �day from Joy downunder |
2 Sep 2009
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yolprica
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Thank you very much Bill2joy, I �d love to be corrected if I make mistakes. We are not native speakers and it �s nearly impossible to use the language as you do.
Yolanda |
2 Sep 2009
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goodnesses
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According to what I know, here is how I see it.
"at"
Open your books at page 40.
(= books are shut and I ask the pupils to open them at a specific position)
"to"
Now, go/move to page 40 and do the activity.
(=implies movement from one position (page) to another (page) e.g. the books are already open at page 38 and the pupils have to move to page 40)
"on"
Do/look at the activity/picture on page 40.
(=location of the activity/picture on that page)
Thus, the preposition choice depends on the verb used.
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2 Sep 2009
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Spagman63
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It would be nearly impossible to open a book ON a certain page unless there were page markers that told each page number sticking out from the margin. You can open a book AT a certain page if that page number is easily found. Likewise opening a book TO a certain page requires opening the book at that EXACT page. How about "Go to page X in your books."? We also say, "Turn in your books to page X."
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2 Sep 2009
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