Feb 1, 2005 17:42
19 yrs ago
English term
on
Non-PRO
English
Other
Linguistics
You can contact me on XXX (XXX is the telephone number). Is on the correct preposition here?
Responses
4 +14 | on | Richard Benham |
4 +12 | at | Kim Metzger |
5 +3 | at | Empty Whiskey Glass |
4 +3 | at | Mikhail Kropotov |
5 +1 | on (British English) at (American English) | Charlesp |
4 +2 | on | Katherine Hodkinson |
5 | at | Viktoria Gimbe |
4 -2 | by | Сергей Лузан |
Responses
+14
3 mins
Selected
on
With all due respect to Kim, I always say "on" for a phone number, "at" for a place ("at my office", "at home", or "on my home/office number"...except my office is at home).
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Note added at 24 mins (2005-02-01 18:07:15 GMT)
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Hello folks. I have checked all the agreers\' profiles, and found that, of those who are from an identifiable English-speaking country, the division is quite clear: UK/Aus for \"on\" and US for \"at\" (I didn\'t observe any other English-speaking nationalities). Also, by Googling the phrases \"contact-me-on\" and \"contact-me-at\", and actually CHECKING the pages, I found the same pattern. So that pretty well settles it.
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Note added at 24 mins (2005-02-01 18:07:15 GMT)
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Hello folks. I have checked all the agreers\' profiles, and found that, of those who are from an identifiable English-speaking country, the division is quite clear: UK/Aus for \"on\" and US for \"at\" (I didn\'t observe any other English-speaking nationalities). Also, by Googling the phrases \"contact-me-on\" and \"contact-me-at\", and actually CHECKING the pages, I found the same pattern. So that pretty well settles it.
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Katherine Hodkinson
1 min
|
Thanks.
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|
agree |
AngieD
: maybe it's a BE/AE thing, but I would also always use "on
8 mins
|
My Google searches confirm your suspicions. Also, "on" is used in Australia.
|
|
agree |
Peter Linton (X)
12 mins
|
Thanks.
|
|
agree |
Rebecca Hendry
: Yes, I have always used "on" for a number, "at" for a place.
12 mins
|
Thanks.
|
|
agree |
Will Matter
: "at" is used in US/Canada. "On" is UK/Europeans who learned English in Europe and the reason why Australia also uses "on" should be obvious.
19 mins
|
Thanks.
|
|
agree |
juvera
22 mins
|
Thanks.
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|
agree |
Charlie Bavington
: yep. What with Australia being British and all. Bit like the Isle of Wight, only bigger and further away. And sunnier.//I was being facetious. As regards the cricket - not getting humped on a regular basis would probably not be a bad thing !
40 mins
|
Australia gained its independence on 1 January 1901...unfortunately I'm not old enough to share your recollections of when Australia was "British". If we were British we wouldn't be able to play cricket, now would we?//And I was being serious??
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agree |
Laurel Porter (X)
: I think you were the 1st one to twig to the correctness of both "at" and "on", depending on the region. Well done!
45 mins
|
Thanks.
|
|
agree |
Ian M-H (X)
: with Laurel and the results of your extensive research
1 hr
|
Thanks.
|
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agree |
Madeleine MacRae Klintebo
: def. most informative answer (and I'm 'on' i.e. UK)
1 hr
|
Thanks.
|
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agree |
Armorel Young
1 hr
|
Thanks.
|
|
agree |
Melanie Nassar
: I guess I have to agree with you to get you to tell me what "root" means in Australian // In that case, I won't root for the WHOLE team :-)
2 hrs
|
It means to have sex.
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agree |
rangepost
4 hrs
|
Thanks.
|
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agree |
Stefanie Sendelbach
: armaat has sex with the whole home team??
7 hrs
|
I remember the leader of a US team of "cheerleaders" being interviewed on arrival in Australia, and saying they'd been instructed *not* to say "We're here to root for our team!"
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks"
+12
1 min
at
Would be the correct preposition here.
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Barbara Kremer
1 min
|
At least in the US.
|
|
agree |
Empty Whiskey Glass
: Faster, faster!
2 mins
|
agree |
Will Matter
: "on" is non-standard usage, "at" is correct.
3 mins
|
agree |
Misiaczek
15 mins
|
agree |
sarahl (X)
31 mins
|
agree |
Clauwolf
41 mins
|
agree |
Melanie Nassar
: not much point in my agree, really, until the asker decides (and tells us) whether he wants BE or AE. But I have to root for the home team! // Sorry, didn't realize I was making a lewd proposition. :-)
56 mins
|
agree |
Richard Benham
: "Here", as in in North America. Just for Armaat's benefit, "root" has quite a different meaning in Australia too. I can't remember whether the Brits also use it....
1 hr
|
agree |
humbird
: I vote for New World English. Woops, Australia is New World. Well whaterver.......
2 hrs
|
agree |
rangepost
4 hrs
|
agree |
Java Cafe
5 hrs
|
agree |
Maria Chmelarova
5 hrs
|
+3
2 mins
at
You can contact me at
+3
2 mins
at
I would use "at".
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Will Matter
2 mins
|
thanks
|
|
agree |
sarahl (X)
30 mins
|
thanx!
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agree |
Clauwolf
40 mins
|
thanx!
|
-2
13 mins
by
"Contact me by phone" seems to be another possibility. Hope it helps. Good luck, Francis!
[PDF] May News Along the Pike
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... Contact me by phone (4-5443) or e- mail (MORRISONJ), and I'll help or find
the expert who can. Jim Morrison is the Center’s Ombudsman. ...
www.fda.gov/cder/pike/may98.pdf
76,200 English pages for "contact me by phone".
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Note added at 2005-02-01 17:59:10 (GMT)
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588,000 English pages for phone \"contact me at\".
62,400 English pages for phone \"contact me on\".
HowtoComplain - Write your own complaint letter
... Please contact me at the above address or by phone [give numbers]. Yours sincerely.
[Sign]. ... Please contact me at the above address or by phone [give numbers]. ...
www.howtocomplain.com/info/cl-template.shtml
[PDF] May News Along the Pike
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... Contact me by phone (4-5443) or e- mail (MORRISONJ), and I'll help or find
the expert who can. Jim Morrison is the Center’s Ombudsman. ...
www.fda.gov/cder/pike/may98.pdf
76,200 English pages for "contact me by phone".
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Note added at 2005-02-01 17:59:10 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
588,000 English pages for phone \"contact me at\".
62,400 English pages for phone \"contact me on\".
HowtoComplain - Write your own complaint letter
... Please contact me at the above address or by phone [give numbers]. Yours sincerely.
[Sign]. ... Please contact me at the above address or by phone [give numbers]. ...
www.howtocomplain.com/info/cl-template.shtml
Reference:
http://www.fda.gov/cder/pike/may98.pdf
http://www.google.ru/search?hl=en&as_qdr=all&q=%22contact+me+by+phone%22&btnG=Search&lr=lang_en
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
Kim Metzger
: By phone is definitely correct, but here the asker has included a phone number.
6 mins
|
My version is 'Contact me by *phone* (4-5443)' w/o any preposition before the number, Kim Metzger, to avoid preposition before the number itself.
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|
disagree |
Richard Benham
: "By" with a number doesn't work. You still need to choose a preposition: "contact me by phone ??? +61882870443". Your Google searches are contaminated by other possible collocations.
8 mins
|
My version is 'Contact me by *phone* (4-5443)' w/o any preposition before the number, Richard Benham, to avoid preposition before the number itself.
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neutral |
Will Matter
: "at" and "on" are correct, "by" and "in" are not.
12 mins
|
My version is 'Contact me by *phone* (4-5443)' w/o any preposition before the number, willmatter, to avoid preposition (*on* in BE & *at* in AE ) before the number itself.
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disagree |
Ian M-H (X)
: Kim and Richard are correct. "By phone at 123..." would work, as would "by phone (123...)". But I don't think that that answers the question here.
55 mins
|
"by phone (123...)" would work, thank you for confirmation. My version is 'Contact me by *phone* (4-5443)' w/o any preposition before the number, Ian Harknett, to avoid preposition (*on* in BE & *at* in AE ) before the number itself.
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neutral |
mstkwasa
: "By" denotes the method with which one contacts (e.g. by phone, not by fax), at/on indicates a specific number to dial. I think it can work as "by phone (xxxx)" but not without parentheses.
1 day 38 mins
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No objections, mstkwasa! Especially in respect of parentheses. It's visible from my reference, isn't it?
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35 mins
at
Rather than an answer, this is more like a pointer... French from France almost obsessively use "on" (sur) for names of places, addresses, phone numbers and the like. Example: I arrive by airbus ON Montreal tomorrow. I think you can go ahead and use "at" because this seems to be the same kind of erroneous use of the word "on" that the French make of it.
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
sarahl (X)
: are you sure about that?
6 hrs
|
+1
38 mins
on (British English) at (American English)
restating for simple clarity
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Will Matter
: I KNEW that this "situation" would occur as soon as I saw the question (prior to reading any answers). Richard is absolutely correct, it's a US/UK difference, all other usage stems from one of those two sources.
7 mins
|
+2
2 mins
on
it's commonly used is every day language.
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Note added at 3 mins (2005-02-01 17:45:43 GMT)
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*in* every day language
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Note added at 44 mins (2005-02-01 18:26:47 GMT)
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lest anyone else was confused, i\'m not suggesting \'in\' as an answer, just correcting my typo!
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Note added at 3 mins (2005-02-01 17:45:43 GMT)
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*in* every day language
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Note added at 44 mins (2005-02-01 18:26:47 GMT)
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lest anyone else was confused, i\'m not suggesting \'in\' as an answer, just correcting my typo!
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Richard Benham
1 min
|
snap! :)
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agree |
Will Matter
: This is European usage.
3 mins
|
er... i wasn't suggesting 'in' as an answer to the question, i was correcting my own typo
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neutral |
Laurel Porter (X)
: It was clear to me, Katherine! (I agreed with Richard because of the completeness of his answer.)
48 mins
|
Discussion