English prepositions strike back... again

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anglista2008

#497765 Mon, 07 Apr 08 06:46 PM

Hey there,

I've got couple of questions about the following sentences... Would you say:

1) I'm sorry. I left (btw. have left???) my English books in/at home again.
2) I was in classroom in/at school.
3) Were you at/on the basketball match yesterday, or didn't you go?
4) The train is standing on/at (the???) platform 7.
5) My school is on Peace Street in Washington DC (ok or not?)

best wishes,

anglista2008

Joined on Thu, Mar 6 2008

New Member (47)

Prepositions

Kooyeen

#497768 Mon, 07 Apr 08 07:02 PM

I hate prepositions! I can never seem to choose the right one! Well, here's what I would say:

I'm sorry. I left them at home again.
I was in class at school. (or "I was in the classroom")
Where you at the baseball game yesterday? (BrE => baseball match)
The train is on track 7 (BrE => The train is at platform 7)
My school is on Peace Street in Washington DC (BrE => in Peace Street)

Warning! I am probably wrong, so wait for a native speaker. That's just what I would do... and the differences between AmE and BrE come in part from my dictionary.

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (3,709)

*Parental Advisory*Explicit Posts

Prepositions

Goodman

#497782 Mon, 07 Apr 08 08:13 PM

Yeah!! You've got to give yourself a pad on the back. I think you got them all right! (:D) Big Smile

Goodman

Joined on Mon, Nov 7 2005

Calif. USA

Senior Member (2,984)

The name says it all!

Prepositions

Philip

#497797 Mon, 07 Apr 08 09:15 PM

Goodman
Yeah!! You've got to give yourself a pad on the back. I think you got them all right!

Or a pat on the back, whichever feels better (;)) Wink

Philip

Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005

USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)

Veteran Member (5,617)

If one will scoff at the study of language, how, save in terms of language, will one scoff? - Mario Pei

Prepositions

CalifJim

#497805 Mon, 07 Apr 08 09:43 PM

Kooyeen
(BrE => baseball match)

The mistake here is cultural, not grammatical!

cricket match!

I would say that on both sides of the pond, it's baseball game (The Brits would conform to American usage for an American sport) and cricket match (The Americans would conform to British usage for a British sport).

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (16,009)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Prepositions, Cricket

Kooyeen

#497809 Mon, 07 Apr 08 10:00 PM

Hmm, sorry, I really know nothing about baseball! (or cricket) Surprise

You know, there's virtually no baseball at all here (but I've seen it in American movies on TV Stick out tongue

)

As for the pad on my back, I thought it was ok as well, since I thought "pad on" was pronounced the same as "pat on". Then I started to have doubts, and I suspect the "a" in "pad on" is actually a little bit longer than the "a" in "pat on". Should I post in the pronunciation section? I'm sure we already discussed something similar, and it was hard to draw a conclusion (I think it was the difference between "pedal" and "petal").