Knocking on and knocking at

I can't think of a situation in which I would use "knocking at".

I knocked on the door several times before finally deciding that nobody was at home.

Hey, there's someone knocking at the door. Will you get it?

Not much difference. I'm sure that I use 'at' more often than 'on'.

'Knocking at' usually refers to the sound. "I was startled from my reading by a knock at the door." "I knocked at the door, but no one answered."

'Knocking on' usually refers to the physical act of knocking. "I pulled into my driveway and saw someone knocking on my door." "My knuckles hurt from knocking on the door."


"I hear knocking at my door, so I assume someone is knocki

Wendy Zhang"knocking at" and "knocking on"

at focuses on the location of the person knocking. on focuses on the object being struck. It would be absurd to use both, but theoretically you could.

Someone is knocking on the wall at the window. (striking the wall with a knocking motion while standing very near the window)

U can use both if ur describing a knock.4 example"Theres a knock at the door"or"Someones knocking on the door."It depends on how U w

Where others say "knocking at the door", I would say 'knocking by the door'.

I heard some knocking by the door.

"knocking at the door" sounds alien to me, but obviously not to others.

"knocking on the door" is a very precise description and is also a very distinctive sound.

AnonymousU can use both if ur describing a knock.4 example"Theres a knock at the door"or"Someones knocking on the door."It depends on how U want 2 structure ur sentence.The key is the prepositions "on" & "at".The more correct way would be 2 use"on" as the knock is on the surface of something.But "at" could be used if U changed the sentence 2 describe the place the knock i

Someone is knocking at the door. Would you get it please? Knocking at ...sound completely fine to me. Remember the song:

dimsumexpressKnocking on the door - is commom as well. But not knocking by the door". "knoocking by the door" does not mean 'knocking on the door'.
To me, the problem seems to be that "knocking at the door" has two meanings; one is physicaly hitting the door and the ot

canadian45I don't know why anyone would say 'knocking at the door' to mean 'knocking on the door'.

They say it because that's the way they've heard others say it. But besides that, the idea is that someone is standing at the door, knocking.

canadian45You slap me on the wrist, not at the wrist.

True, but if