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Victorycountry Posted 17 years ago
Vocabulary
On striker, lunch, holiday
Hi,
I tried to find already posted questions on 'on + (doing) activity ' through the search.
I don't know why but search doesn't list any. (e.g. on )
I always wondered, but I didn't bother to learn why before ...as I tried to remember it just like I do when I try to memorise Mathematics formula...
But why it's 'on' before an (doing) activity like in
e.g.
The bus drives are on strike today.
Sorry, she's not on her desk, she's on lunch.
Oh, they've gone on honeymoon.
All I can analyse is that if you use 'on' then you don't have to use pregressive sentence.
e.g. She's having lunch => She's on lunch
Then could I say something like
A: Where is Tomas?
B: Tomas is on football => What I mean is Tomas is playing football now.
A: What's Jenny doing?
B: She is on cookery => She is cooking now.
I tried to find already posted questions on 'on + (doing) activity ' through the search.
I don't know why but search doesn't list any. (e.g. on )
I always wondered, but I didn't bother to learn why before ...as I tried to remember it just like I do when I try to memorise Mathematics formula...
But why it's 'on' before an (doing) activity like in
e.g.
The bus drives are on strike today.
Sorry, she's not on her desk, she's on lunch.
Oh, they've gone on honeymoon.
All I can analyse is that if you use 'on' then you don't have to use pregressive sentence.
e.g. She's having lunch => She's on lunch
Then could I say something like
A: Where is Tomas?
B: Tomas is on football => What I mean is Tomas is playing football now.
A: What's Jenny doing?
B: She is on cookery => She is cooking now.
Top answer
Hello, Victorycountry, on strike, on honeymoon are grammatical collocations and, if questions arise, they can be resolved in any quality general dictionary or a more specialised combinatory dictionary. They use of on lunch is open to objection as at lunch is virtually the only option with a preposition. Your assumption about prepositional phrase-progressive aspect correlation seems promising, but, in order for it to become a rule it should embrace a certain number of cases.
- Hello, Victorycountry, on strike, on honeymoon are grammatical collocations and, if questions arise, they can be resolved in any quality general dictionary or a more specialised combinatory dictionary.
- They use of on lunch is open to objection as at lunch is virtually the only option with a preposition.
- Your assumption about prepositional phrase-progressive aspect correlation seems promising, but, in order for it to become a rule it should embrace a certain number of cases.
- However, it may be challenged: The railway workers are on strike today.
- = The railway workers are striking today.
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2 Answers
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Hello, Victorycountry,
on strike, on honeymoon are grammatical collocations and, if questions arise, they can be resolved in any quality general dictionary or a more specialised combinatory dictionary.
They use of on lunch is open to objection as at lunch is virtually the only option with a preposition.
Your assumption about prepositional phrase-p
on strike, on honeymoon are grammatical collocations and, if questions arise, they can be resolved in any quality general dictionary or a more specialised combinatory dictionary.
They use of on lunch is open to objection as at lunch is virtually the only option with a preposition.
Your assumption about prepositional phrase-p
00
Oh, I see, I got what you mean!
Thank you, Gleb Chebrikoff!
Your explanation is very informative!
Thank you, Gleb Chebrikoff!
Your explanation is very informative!
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