ESL Forum:
Techniques and methods
in Language Teaching
Games, activities
and teaching ideas
Grammar and
Linguistics
Teaching material
Concerning
worksheets
Concerning
powerpoints
Concerning online
exercises
Make suggestions,
report errors
Ask for help
Message board
|
ESL forum >
Ask for help > on or at?
on or at?
|
|
joy2bill
|
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
|
|
yolprica
|
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
|
|
goodnesses
|
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.
|
2 Sep 2009
|
|
Spagman63
|
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."
|
2 Sep 2009
|
|
< Previous
1
2
|