Turn on / off tap

[English4everyone]

Hi

I know that we use the verbs turn on and turn off for water taps as in "turn on cold tap please."
But how can we make ourselves understood when we mean a little?
Is this correct?
Turn on cold tap a little please.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi.

I know that we use the verbs "turn on" and "turn off" for water taps as in "Turn on the cold tap please."
But how can we make ourselves understood when we mean that we want only a little water to come out?
Is this correct?
Turn on the cold tap a little please.

Yes. We don't have a separate verb for it. You can turn the tap on a little (a trickle of water will come out). You can turn it on full (the maximum possible amount so that a lot of water comes out, usually quickly). Usually, we just turn it on and a moderate amount of water comes out at a medium speed.

 

[J&K Tutoring]

emsr2d2 has given a very useful response to your question. I would just like to add that, in America, we use the word tap mostly as a verb and seldom as a noun. Faucet is the word we use for the same device.

 

[English4everyone]

Thanks.
But may I ask you to give an example sentence?