#English Idioms ##英语学习 #
The prepositions in English not only connect everything in the world, but also make the way they are connected to each other colorful, reflected in the position, that is, the relationship between different objects in distance, and the difference between the mediating words three musketeers at, on and in in is often confusing.
These three prepositions are very different in positional modification, wherein is used for a confined space, usually refers to a large space inside, such as the pen in the drawer, meaning "pen in the drawer", on for the surface, usually refers to a relatively large plane, the pen on the drawer, meaning "pen on the drawer", at for a location or place, usually regarded as a point, the pen at the drawer, meaning " Pen next to the drawer".
In general, the difference between at, on, or in in representing the positional relationship depends a large part on the intersection between objects, such as the largest intersection, then use in, the smallest use at, the center of the use of on; of course, this is not an absolute law, such as the prepositional phrase on the nose in the nose, it is not a large plane, but can be modified with on.
On the nose literally means "on the nose", although the nose is not a large plane, but in the expression "on the nose", it is not reasonable to use at or in, so at least on the nose indicates that something is supported by the nose, and at or in does not have this meaning, for example:
He gave Mike a hard look at his nose.
合理：He gave Mike a bash on the nose.
不妥：He gave Mike a bash at the nose.
不妥：He gave Mike a bash in the nose.
We know that the hand can hit the nose, then it must have touched the nose, so it is not reasonable to use at, because the position point described at is too vague; it is also unreasonable to use in, because it is always impossible to slap or punch into the nostrils, because only on the nose can be used.
The real difficulty is some implicit modification, especially the difference between where and "preposition + which" in the definite clause; the relationship between them is one-to-many, that is, where can be equivalent to in/at/on which, so if you use where in general to modify the precursor, it will sometimes cause ambiguity in meaning, such as:
a. This is the store where I met him.
b. This is the store in which I met him.
c. This is the store at which I met him.
Follow the general rules of prepositional modification, and then carefully taste these three sentences, you will find that the specific positional relationships they describe are very different, I wonder if you find any nuances?
In fact, on the nose is not only difficult to understand the meaning of "on the nose", it can also be used to indicate exactly or accurately, equivalent to exactly or precisely, etc., such as:
The budget should hit the$ 136 billion target on the nose.
The budget should be exactly the target of 136 billion yuan.
The busload of students arrived at the museum at ten o'clock right on the nose.
A large cart of students arrived at the museum at ten o'clock on time.
So how can on the nose be linked to "accurate or precise"? According to The American Heritage Idioms Dictionary, it may have originated in boxing, where the opponent's nose is a target that one is so eager to attack.
However, there is another theory in The Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins that on the nose originated in early radio broadcasting. The supervisor of the soundproof control room sends certain signals to the assistant who performs the actual program, and putting the index finger on the nose means that the program is broadcast on time.