What's the meaning of "on" in these cases? 1.The four of them passed through the dining room, empty and silent now, with its fabulous western exposure _on_ the snow-dusted peaks. 2.Hallorann lead them

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What's the meaning of "on" in these cases? 1.The four of them passed through the dining room, empty and silent now, with its fabulous western exposure _on_ the snow-dusted peaks. 2.Hallorann lead them back toward the wide swinging doors that gave _on_ the Overlook Dining Room. What's the meaning of "on" in these cases? Thank you.I am just wondering if both "on"s have similar meaning in the sentences. For your information, Overlook is the name of a hotel. I have looked up a phrase, namely, give onto, which means afford a view of. So I guess the first "on" means "facing" or "point towards" and the second "on" means "lead to" or is just short for "give onto"? I don't know if I understand them correctly. Would you elaborate on it?The excerpt is from The Shining by Stephen King. I don't think he will write weird English.The excerpt is from The Shining by Stephen King. I don't think he will write weird English.

Nov 26, 2016 9:02 AM

Answers · 11

sentence 1 (on = 在...上) sentence 2 sounds weird ... maybe it should be: Hallorann lead them back toward the wide swinging doors that overlooked the dining room.

November 26, 2016

If a window or a door "gives ONTO" a place, it means that that window or door LEADS to that place, or it means that you can SEE that place from that window or that door. I'm sure about that with regard to my side of the ocean at least. Could "ON" instead of "ONTO" be used on the other side? I don't know. America and Britain are 2 Countries DIVIDED by ONE Language. If ON is the same as ONTO in this case, it's clear that before the first ON there could be an understood "THAT GAVE", but "that gave" is implied in this case, it's substituted with "with its fabulous western exposure".

November 26, 2016