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.

In article <1refj5-ak1.ln1@leon.usenet>,
   Leon  wrote:
> 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.

-- 
New 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/

David wrote:

>> 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>:

>In article <1refj5-ak1.ln1@leon.usenet>,
>   Leon  wrote:

>> I work __ a bookshop.
>
>'In', usually.
>
>> I work __ a hospital.
>
>'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.
-- 
Molly 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.)

Molly Mockford wrote:

> 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 fucking 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 :)

On 27 Jun, 23:31, Leon  wrote:
> Molly Mockford wrote:
> > 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 fucking 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 :)

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.

Paul wrote:
> On 27 Jun, 23:31, Leon  wrote:
>> Molly Mockford wrote:
>>> 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 fucking 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 :)
> 
> 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.

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

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:22:43 -0700 (PDT), Paul
 wrote:

>On 27 Jun, 23:31, Leon  wrote:
>> Molly Mockford wrote:
>> > 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 fucking 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 :)
>
>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.

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.
-- 
Phil C.