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#2 (permalink) Mon May 21, 2007 11:24 am meaning of "He spilled water on my paperwork" |
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Valerie spilled water on my paperwork.
The sentence means that Valerie poured water out of a container (by mistake) on the piece(s) of paper I was working on. |
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Conchita Language Coach

Joined: 26 Dec 2005 Posts: 2826 Location: Madrid, Spain
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#3 (permalink) Sun Apr 25, 2010 16:44 pm meaning of "He spilled water on my paperwork" |
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why not usa "in" in this case? |
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Gino12 New Member
Joined: 04 Apr 2010 Posts: 7
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#4 (permalink) Sun Apr 25, 2010 16:50 pm meaning of "He spilled water on my paperwork" |
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Because there is no 'inside' to a sheet of paper. Although the paper will eventually absorb the water, it does not go into the paper the way it can be poured into a cup, jug, vase, box, etc. It goes on (the surface of) the paper. _________________ "Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened."
Terry Pratchett |
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Beeesneees Language Coach

Joined: 08 Apr 2010 Posts: 39144 Location: UK, born and bred
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Clear vs. clearly | General alarm vs. false alarm |