pull + noun vs pull on + noun One of the most confusing facts in english is prepositions for me. Actually I don’t know which preposition I should use ‘to’ / ’for’ in the above sentence. anyhow, I h

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Bryan

pull + noun vs pull on + noun One of the most confusing facts in english is prepositions for me. Actually I don’t know which preposition I should use ‘to’ / ’for’ in the above sentence. anyhow, I have seen this sentence, "People started pulling on me, too. Somebody pulled on the arm." Isn’t it possible?, "People started pulling me, too. Somebody pulled the arm." Is it grammatically wrong? or What’s the difference between the two sentences? Anybody can teach me prepositions? I really like to learn preposition and adverb kind of up, .. and so on. How do natives learn prepostions? Thanks.

Mar 18, 2015 11:40 AM

Answers · 5

To pull someone suggests moving their entire body. To pull on (or at) someone, suggests grabbing their arm or clothing and pulling, but without successfully moving their whole body. We also typically say "Somebody pulled my arm", not "the arm".

March 18, 2015

To be honest, these are rather strange sentences. No native English speaker would say "People started pulling on me, too. Somebody pulled on the arm." My impression is that this was written by a non-native who has a less-than-perfect grasp of English. We might say 'People started pulling at me. Somebody pulled my arm'.

March 18, 2015

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