[Vocabulary] Pulled ~on, pull ~ at

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Kazuo

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Hello!

A. He pulled a gun on me. (a dictionary sample sentence)

B. The story is told of a priest who was coming back to his parish house one evening in the dark only to be accosted by a robber who pulled a gun at him and demanded, “Your money or your life!”
(Kelvin, The Redemption of our Human Nature, from a web site.)

Is this difference in the choice of the prepositions related to any differences, if there were any, in his determination to harm or in the way of aiming at the target?

Thanks in advance
 

theeexcellence

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Hello!

A. He pulled a gun on me. (a dictionary sample sentence)

B. The story is told of a priest who was coming back to his parish house one evening in the dark only to be accosted by a robber who pulled a gun at him and demanded, “Your money or your life!”
(Kelvin, The Redemption of our Human Nature, from a web site.)

Is this difference in the choice of the prepositions related to any differences, if there were any, in his determination to harm or in the way of aiming at the target?

Thanks in advance

Though "pull on" is normally used, I don't think "pull at" can be called incorrect in this sense.

I will recommend a second opinion too. So please wait for it.

NOT A TEACHER
 

emsr2d2

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Hello!

A. He pulled a gun on me. (a dictionary sample sentence)

B. The story is told of a priest who was coming back to his parish house one evening in the dark only to be accosted by a robber who pulled a gun at him and demanded, “Your money or your life!”
(Kelvin, The Redemption of our Human Nature, from a web site.)

Is this difference in the choice of the prepositions related to any differences, if there were any, in his determination to harm or in the way of aiming at the target?

Thanks in advance

In my opinion, the second example is an incorrect use of the preposition "at".

You PULL a gun ON someone.
You POINT a gun AT someone.

"Pull at" has a different meaning as a phrasal verb, meaning almost the same as "pull". Examples: "Stop pulling at your hair. It will fall out." "The child was pulling at my sleeve to get my attention."
 
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