On/At my cell phone

Question

Hi there,In the following sentence should I use on or at? and then should I say "at" xxx-xxxx ? "If there is any problem call me on/at my cell phone at xxx-xxxx"

BarbaraPA · Accepted Answer

I would say "Call me on my cell. It's 313-... "

or

"You can reach me at 313-..."

Yoong Liat · Answer

LifeLongLearner10Hi there,

In the following sentence should I use on or at? and then should I say "at" ***-xxxx ?
"If there is any problem call me on/at my cell phone at ***-xxxx"

'at' (AmE); on (BrE)

Rotter · Answer

Yes, Grammar Geek
You talk to someone on the phone.
When I was small it was fine to say I talked to him over the phone.

Today people don't say 'over the phone'. I guess this is a part of language evolution.

We say on the computer. I have a lot of important documents on my computers.
I have learnt it is not perfect to say there is a lot of important documents in my computers.

The reason to avoid the preposition 'in' is the box of computer doesn't fall into the
category of three diamensional figure. We just look at the screen and it is just a surface.
I may be wrong here. In the past, people who wrote manuals on software always
wrote the words 'on the computer'.
Nowadays manuals are a thing of the past to a great extent. If you need information, you should look at the help file or search on the Internet. I was told by an employee at IBM that the surveys have shown people never look at manuals; because people think they are boring to read.

However, my question is a different one.

You and I store or rather maintian a lot of telephone numbers.

1. His/her telephone number is on my mobile phone.
2. His/her telephone number is in my mobile phone.

Which is the correct one when it comes to the mobile phones?
I would select the first one like my computers.

NewPhilologist · Answer

"His telephone number is in my mobile phone" sounds a lot more natural to me, but don't ask me why.

Yankee · Answer

Yes, I also like "His number is in my cell phone". The number is stored in it. I think I'd only use 'on' if I wanted to indicate that you can (currently) see his number on my cell phone's display.

Yankee · Answer

RotterYes, Grammar Geek
You talk to someone on the phone.
When I was small it was fine to say I talked to him over the phone.

Today people don't say 'over the phone'. I guess this is a part of language evolution.

We say on the computer. I have a lot of important documents on my computers.
I have learnt it is not perfect to say there is a lot of important documents in my computers. I don't see anything wrong with saying "documents in my computer" or "documents in my PC". That sounds quite natural to me. However, I do think that people are more likely to refer to something being "on a hard drive", for example.

The reason to avoid the preposition 'in' is the box of computer doesn't fall into the
category of three diamensional figure. We just look at the screen and it is just a surface.
I may be wrong here. In the past, people who wrote manuals on software always
wrote the words 'on the computer'. Yes, you "install programs on a PC", but I can "store documents in (or possibly on) a PC".
Nowadays manuals are a thing of the past to a great extent. If you need information, you should look at the help file or search on the Internet. I was told by an employee at IBM that the surveys have shown people never look at manuals; because people think they are boring to read.

However, my question is a different one.

You and I store or rather maintian a lot of telephone numbers.

1. His/her telephone number is on my mobile phone. I would probably use 'on' only if the number can be seen at that moment on the phone's display.
2. His/her telephone number is in my mobile phone. This sounds more typical to me.

Which is the correct one when it comes to the mobile phones?
I would select the first one like my computers.

Rotter · Answer

Yankee
Thanks for your attention to my question.

Absolutely there is nothing wrong to say in the computer. I agree with you wholeheartedly.
I reckon the people who wrote manuals know better than me the science behind computers. So they always used the word 'on' .

I would say you are free to write either 'on' or 'in' .

You can say I am going to install a program in my computer.

I bought my first computer in 1991. It was mostly DOS based stuff. I have seen extensive use of the preposition 'on' people who write manuals. In the good old days manuals are very common.

Today I work with UNIX. I buried Windows almost 10 years ago.

You would say his/her telephone number is in the mobile phone. I would agree with you. You are a native speaker of English. So you have a flair for finding the suitable word.

LifeLongLearner10 · Answer

One more question!
Over the net (Internet) vs. On the net?

which one is right:
I searched for information over/on the net/Internet.
I found englishforum.com when I was surfing in/on/over the net/internet

Rotter · Answer

People say on the Internet.

I don't think it is incorrect to say by the Internet or over the Internet..
There is no usage or idiom governing the WWW.

Delmobile · Answer

I've never heard anything but "on the internet." "These days, it's easy to find the answer to just about any question on the internet."

I think surfing doesn't usually require a preposition: "I spend way too much time surfing the net." "He's going to the North Shore tomorrow to surf the big waves."

On/At my cell phone

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