 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsEnglish UsageBritish EnglishESL Teaching Learnglish.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Discussion Groups / British English / June 2008to work in/on/at a place
Hi all, sorry if it a bit silly, but I just wanted to know what preposition would you use to tell about the place you go to work every day, not necessarily the exact place but the kind of place, for example: I work __ a bookshop. I work __ a hospital. I work __ a flowers stall at the market. Or does it rather depend on the type of place? Thanks. > Hi all, > sorry if it a bit silly, but I just wanted to know what preposition > would you use to tell about the place you go to work every day, not > necessarily the exact place but the kind of place, for example: > I work __ a bookshop. 'In', usually. > I work __ a hospital. 'In', usually. It could be 'at', more especially if it were "the hospital". > I work __ a flowers stall at the market. I would say "on a flower stall" (note, not 'flowers') but 'at' is possible. > Or does it rather depend on the type of place? Yes, and also what part of the UK you're in.  SignatureNew Marmite(TM): Not as thick! Not as dark! Not as te! David - toro-danyo atcost uku fullstop co fullstop uk http://www.toro-danyo.uku.co.uk/ >> I work __ a flowers stall at the market. > I would say "on a flower stall" (note, not 'flowers') but 'at' is > possible. Thanks David, you say "on" because a stall is not a building but rather something open? At 17:31:37 on Fri, 27 Jun 2008, David <nospam@nomaps.amnops.invalid> wrote in <4fb615f905nospam@nomaps.amnops.invalid>: >> I work __ a bookshop. > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >'In', usually. It could be 'at', more especially if it were "the >hospital". Either of those could be "I am working on" if the work one was doing was that of an architect or a builder. >> I work __ a flowers stall at the market. > >I would say "on a flower stall" (note, not 'flowers') but 'at' is >possible. However, it's fairly unlikely that anybody would be employed to do such work - it's usually sole-trader territory. Therefore, "I run a flower stall", or even "I have a flower stall", would be more likely. SignatureMolly Mockford They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin (My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.) > Either of those could be "I am working on" if the work one was doing was > that of an architect or a builder. Yeah, I guess in that case the shop would be the object of your work instead of the place you work in, actually you could work on the shop without being in the shop, couldn't you? >>> I work __ a flowers stall at the market. >>I would say "on a flower stall" (note, not 'flowers') but 'at' is >>possible. > However, it's fairly unlikely that anybody would be employed to do such > work - it's usually sole-trader territory. Therefore, "I run a flower > stall", or even "I have a flower stall", would be more likely. I'm watching an episode of Sugar Rush, a British TV series, and Sugar says: I dunno kiz, how am I ever gonna get anywhere earning the minimum wage *on* a f.cking candyfloss stall? It's a joke. My life's a joke. When am I gonna get a break? That's why I asked the question :) > > Either of those could be "I am working on" if the work one was doing was > > that of an architect or a builder. [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > That's why I asked the question :) You could be working for the person who owns / runs the flower stall. In which case, ' I work in a flower stall' or 'I work at the flower stall' seem to me to be the best alternatives. 'I work on a farm' would be appropriate because the farm is an open space, but the flower stall, I guess will have a roof above it and hence 'on' a flower stall sounds tricky. >>> Either of those could be "I am working on" if the work one was doing was >>> that of an architect or a builder. [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > stall, I guess will have a roof above it and hence 'on' a flower stall > sounds tricky. Actually for me it's the most natural. A stall doesn't necessarily have a roof, or if it does it's usually made of canvas or a similar material. Regards, Einde O'Callaghan >> > Either of those could be "I am working on" if the work one was doing was >> > that of an architect or a builder. [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] >stall, I guess will have a roof above it and hence 'on' a flower stall >sounds tricky. Only rarely can I speak on any topic with authority but I used to run a market stall. There were two busy flower stalls at our usual market, both using employees to help run them. Many other stalls also employed people. Both there and at all other markets I attended, _everybody_ used "on" to refer to those engaged in running the stall, whether as owners or employees. There's not much logic to English prepositions and "on" has much wider application than physical position. At a market, either "in" or (more commonly) "at" would be used for geographical location of people (or "on" if it literally meant standing on the roof). I don't think the usage is any different for a volunteer running a stall at a fete ("She's on the tombola") or for a person working at a particular part of a shop ("He's on the cosmetics counter today"). It seems to be a meaning of "on" in its own right - at least in informal contexts where there's no likelihood of ambiguity. SignaturePhil C. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2012 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.