Thread: a sentence

Check this sentence, please......

Okay class, we left off on page 92 last week, so open your books to page 93

Originally Posted by Chuvak

Okay class, we left off on page 92 last week, so open your books on page 93

Thanks!!!
Could I also say: Okay class, we left off in page 92 last week, so open your books in page 93

Originally Posted by scotcher

Originally Posted by Chuvak

Okay class, we left off on page 92 last week, so open your books on page 93

Not so fast. I've never, in my entire life, heard "open your books ON page xx". Perhaps it's a regionalism. Maybe British English (but I'd wanna see a citation.)

In this case, English resembles Russian. Motion toward = "to"; Location = "on". Opening your book is "motion toward".

As far as I can see, the original sentence is fine.

As far as I am concerned, certainly in BrE and I'm fairly sure in any other flavo(u)r of English...

You can open a book "at" or "on".

You cannot open a book "to" or "in".

You can go "to" a certain page, but that is not the same thing.

If you want to demand a citation, then I suggest you provide one backing up what you wrote first. You can start by demonstrating in what way the verbn "open" implies "motion toward" anything.

Nice to hear that British English is a 'regionalism' now though

Thank you !!!

As fas I as can see, the answer to my question is a matter of the region where the native speaker who was answering it lives.... i.e. English is a very unstable, even flexible language...

Well, I just did a quick Google search: "open your book on page"

Of the (3) pages of links they provided, exactly one was to a native English site. This one happened to be in England, so I will tentatively accept that the phrase might be current there.


When I switched to "open your book to page", Google gave me (21) pages. Most to native English sites, many to educational sites (Universities and teachers.net), a link to the New York Times, www.ed.gov, etc.

When I checked UseNet discussions for the same phrase, I got 20 hits for "to" and zero hits for "on".


I have no reason to doubt that some people somewhere use it, but they are in the distinct minority.

Originally Posted by Chuvak

Thank you !!!

As fas I as can see, the answer to my question is a matter of the region where the native speaker who was answering it lives.... i.e. English is a very unstable, even flexible language...

It may very well be regional. "Open on page" sounds bizarre to me. "Open to page" sounds completely normal. I think "open your books and turn to page ...." sounds the best.

Also, on another note, you can't say "we left off in page 99," but you CAN say "we left off in chapter 3, so let's turn to page 99". Who would have thought that turning pages in a book could be so linguistically complicated and contentious?

Can I say we left off on page 92?

Originally Posted by Ramil

Can I say we left off on page 92?

Sure.

It's designating a location, not a destination.

Heh, that's hardly a citation, but I'll play along.

I did a few google searches of my own:

"open your books on" = 5760 results.
"open your books to" = 770 results.

"open your books on page" = 705 results
"open your books to page" = 583 results

"open on page" = 266,000 results
"open to page" = 12,200 results

I got bored before I could find a single instance where "to" gave more results than "on".

Not that this means "on" is better than "to", I just felt like pointing out the [edited. L] of your reasoning.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go home and pack, I'm off to Russia for a few weeks later tonight. Yay.

With all those results, you'd think Google would be able to return more than a page or two of irrelevant links for "open your books on" -- but it doesn't. On the other hand "open your books to" yields plenty.

Anyone here can try it and see for themselves.

Try both -- see which of the two "open your books on" and "open your books to" give you actual concrete results.

Then try Yahoo and compare the results.

I have to agree, I have never heard 'on' and would think it was very strange if I did. You can say "if you'll look on page 91" or "the diagram is on page 91".

what about "at" then? Is "at page 95" acceptable?

Originally Posted by Chuvak

Check this sentence, please......

Okay class, we left off on page 92 last week, so open your books to page 93

Your sentence sounds perfect to me.

Originally Posted by kamka

what about "at" then? Is "at page 95" acceptable?

I think you could say "we left off at page 95" (at least it sounds normal to me) You could also say "read the first few chapters and stop at page 95". You could not say "turn at page 95".

at page 95 is no good.

open to page 5
this sounds ok to me (native Chicagoan, spent 15 years on each coast too), whereas "on" sounds weird.