At or In or On?

Status
Not open for further replies.

harry1999

Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
My first sentence is about, if I am reporting an issue and writing down a step,
Sentence 1:

On the admin side, just navigate to the home page.

or

At the admin side, just navigate to the home page.

Sentence 2:

I am going on my room.

or

I am going at my room.

or

I am going to my room.

or

I am going in my room.

Sentence 3:
I am on the ABC road.

or

I am at the ABC road.

Please can you describe the preposition rules to me? I am very confused while making a sentence with "at" or "on" or "in".

Thanks!:-|
 

Kalyan Brata Das

New member
Joined
Jul 4, 2011
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Bengali; Bangla
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
hello Harry,

First, there is no set rules or you can say in some cases, there are some set rules for prepositions. You need to get some of them by heart.

e.g, on TV, on Sunday (any weekday), in January (any month) and so. these are set rules of preposition which you need to use at all cases. There are not exceptions to this.

In some cases, you need to use your discretion while judging your sentences. Now, try to get the meaning,

  • on the table
  • under the table
  • at the table,
  • over the table

Do they have different in sense and meaning? Yes they do and I am sure you have already known it.

Likewise, it will be always on the admin page.... (and not at the admin page..). On screen or TV or something like this, we use 'on'. You're navigating to a page and you are seeing it on your computer and hence, it will be on the page and so.. It implies, on this page, you will see it but at this page you can get it. Makes sense?

Likewise, you cannot say going on the room. It will mean something going over the room (closely). It was an action of a direction and hence, it will always be .. to the room But you need to say.. i am going on this page. In this case, this sentence means reading the page and no movement is involved here.

We use 'on' to be at a road. It's simple and get it by heart.

Hope this makes sense. Do ask me if you get more or if you need more clarification or if you have some more discussion on this.

Kalyan
 

harry1999

Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
Thanks! It's really helpful.
:)
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
I do not entirely agree with Kalyan Brata Das
On the admin side, just navigate to the home page.
At the admin side, just navigate to the home page.
Do you mean 'side' or 'site?.
2:
a. I am going on my room. X
b.I am going at my room. X
c.I am going to my room. :tick:
d.I am going in my room. :tick:
In #d, the speaker is making more of a point of going into the room than in #c

3:
a. I am on [STRIKE]the [/STRIKE]ABC [STRIKE]r[/STRIKE]Road. :tick:
b. I am at [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] ABC [STRIKE]r[/STRIKE]Road. :tick:
[/QUOTE]I feel that #a is more likely than #b, but both are possible, as is 'in ABC Road'.

With a few exceptions, we do not normally use 'the' with the name of a road.
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
On the admin side, just navigate to the home page.

If you are referring to the part of a site where you can administer and control things, I would say in the admin area.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top