throw to/on the ground

Welcome to the Forum Beeblebrox.

I would say, "then he threw it on the ground".

 I easily accept both.  to emphasizes the motion; on emphasizes the destination.  In the case of a frustrated child with a toy, I would opt for to.  In the case of a careless adult with a piece of candy wrapper to throw away, I would opt for on.  By emphasizing the motion, the use of to, to my ear, creates the image of a more violent act.

CJ 

Thanks to both of you!

In fact, the story is about a philosopher who believes that he can understand the whole world by understanding a small part of it, a spinning top for example. He hangs around places where children are playing and starts to chase the top as soon as it starts spinning. When he catches it and sees the motionless top in his hand, he starts to feel sick and todders like a top under a clumsy whip.

The original german says: hatte er den Kreisel, solange er sich noch drehte, gefangen, war er glücklich, aber nur einen Augenblick, dann warf er ihn zu Boden und ging fort.

I guess in this case it's most a matter of taste to choose "to" or "on". On one hand he feels sick in the story, which would suggest "on", on the the other hand he must feel really frustrated not to be able to catch the top in motion, which would suggest "to" of course. I guess as a translator, i would throw the manuscript to the ground when i had to translate it :-)