knock on/at the door?

[kankan]

Hi!

I've found these sentences:

1. We had just startedto eat when we heard someone knocking at the door.
2. Shortly after he had gone to sleep there was a knock on the door.

Now I'm confused which one is right: 'a knock on the door' or 'a knock at the door'. Is there any difference in the meaning?

Thank you!

 

[opa6x57]

Hi!

I've found these sentences:

1. We had just startedto eat when we heard someone knocking at the door.
2. Shortly after he had gone to sleep there was a knock on the door.

Now I'm confused which one is right: 'a knock on the door' or 'a knock at the door'. Is there any difference in the meaning?

Thank you!

They are functionally the same.
Either one is correct - it is simply a matter of style.

=============================
Not a teacher, 53-year-old American.
=============================

 

[mykwyner]

"a knock on the door"
"a knock at the door"

I agree that they function the same as noun phrases, but not as verb phrases.

In my dialect, I would knock on the door to see if someone was home, but I would never knock at the door. To me, this implies that I am knocking on something other than the door itself.

 

[killen001]

This is how I read it:

1. We had just started to eat when we heard someone knocking at the door.

This answers the question: "Where did the knocking take place?" "At the door."

2. Shortly after he had gone to sleep there was a knock on the door.

And this is more like "on what object did the (presumed) knocker knock?" "on the door"

 

[momule]

If I wish to be allowed in the door then I would knock on the door. To say that you would knock at the door suggests that perhaps you tried to knock on it but missed hitting it with your hand.

If I am playing the game of baseball and I want to hit the ball with the bat then I would say that I am swinging at the ball because there is a good chance that I will miss the ball when I swing.

If I am in my car on the street in front of the house I would say that I am looking at the door and not looking on the door.

 

[Tdol]

If I wish to be allowed in the door then I would knock on the door. To say that you would knock at the door suggests that perhaps you tried to knock on it but missed hitting it with your hand.

There could be a difference between variants here as it doesn't suggest this to me; knock at the door sounds normal enough to me.

 

[5jj]

The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) gives 386 examples of 'knock at the door' and 600 of 'knock on the door'. I glanced over several examples of each, and could see no consistent difference.

 

[opa6x57]

I'm standing AT the door, knocking. I'm knocking at the door.

I may be knocking ON the door. I may be knocking on the door-frame. I may be knocking on the siding of the house next to the door. I may be knocking on the window next too the door. I may be knocking on the post supporting the porch roof. But, I am at the door - knocking.

To those inside - all they know is that someone is knocking. They may assume the knocker is knocking ON the door. But, for certain, there is someone AT the door, knocking.

In common AmE usage - these are functionally the same thing. I agree there is a nuance here that most native-speakers do not pay attention to, though.

Jesus said, "Behold, I stand AT the door and knock."
Some new translations may have this as, "I'm knocking ON the door of your heart."

Sir Paul McCartney said, "Someone's knocking AT the door."
Would the song have sold as many copies, if the lyric was, "Someone's knocking ON the door."?


=============================
Not a teacher, 53-year-old American.
=============================

and that's my opinion.

 

[momule]

Just for the sake of fun, do we ring a bell or do we strike it in some fashion in order to make it ring? We certainly don't ring many doorbells since they're typically electric and located out of reach inside the house, but we do push the doorbell button in order to make that mechanism ring.
I would agree that from McCartney's perspective "Knocking at the door" and Ringing the bell" have a much better flow than any other option that I could consider. Your opinion is well taken and I will accept that on some level these are mere nuances with the same functionality.

 

[Vladimir_al]

Hi!

I've found these sentences:

1. We had just startedto eat when we heard someone knocking at the door.
2. Shortly after he had gone to sleep there was a knock on the door.

Now I'm confused which one is right: 'a knock on the door' or 'a knock at the door'. Is there any difference in the meaning?

Thank you!

Both they are correct .

 

[5jj]

Just for the sake of fun, do we ring a bell or do we strike it in some fashion in order to make it ring?

I 'ring the bell', or just 'ring'.

"I've rung, but nobody's answering. Strange. He said he'd be home."

 

[Tdol]

Sir Paul McCartney said, "Someone's knocking AT the door."
Would the song have sold as many copies, if the lyric was, "Someone's knocking ON the door."?

It did't stop Knocking on Heaven's door selling plenty of copies, but would that have done so well if Mr Dylan had used at?. ;-)

 

[Vidor]

not a teacher

If the subject is doing the knocking, it's knock ON the door. "I knocked ON the door" not "I knocked AT the door."

If the subject is hearing a noise, it depends. "I heard a knock at the door." "I heard a knock on the door." No difference, really.

If you specify in your sentence that you heard another person performing the action, it's ON again. "I heard someone knocking ON the door" not "I heard someone knocking AT the door."

 

[5jj]

Re: not a teacher

If the subject is doing the knocking, it's knock ON the door. "I knocked ON the door" not "I knocked AT the door."

That may very well be true when you are the speaker. That does not mean that it has to be so when others speak, as we have seen in this thread.

 

[Vidor]

Re: not a teacher

That may very well be true when you are the speaker. That does not mean that it has to be so when others speak, as we have seen in this thread.

You wouldn't say "He knocked AT the door" either.

 

[5jj]

Re: not a teacher

You wouldn't say "He knocked AT the door" either.

And why not, may I ask?

 

[Vidor]

Re: not a teacher

And why not, may I ask?

Because you wouldn't. Who knows why?

 

[opa6x57]

Re: not a teacher

Because you wouldn't. Who knows why?

I disagree. Not only would it be proper to say, "He knocked at the door." I have used that in everyday speech. I've heard others use it in everyday speech. (AmE!)

This statement answers the question, "Where was he when he knocked?" It does not answer the question, "What was he knocking on?"

However, in my opinion, this is a distinction without a real difference.

The fact communicated in either case (He knocked at/on the door.) is that "HE" wanted to attract the attention of those inside - by knocking.
He was AT the door - knocking ON something (maybe the door, maybe the door-frame) to do that.


=============================
Not a teacher, 53-year-old American.
=============================
… and that’s my opinion

 

[5jj]

Re: not a teacher

Because you wouldn't. Who knows why?

But I would!

 

[RobertT]

I'm not a native speaker but in my opinion, "knock AT the door" implies the location of the person doing the knocking. In this case, it is somewhere close to the door or "at the door".

Therefore, I tend to think "he knocks at the door" as equivalent to "he stands in front of the door and he knocks"

As for "knock on the door", to me, it has a literal meaning of knocking the hand against the door. This phrase only describes the action of knocking. In common sense, it should therefore imply the location of the person albeit indirectly.