Sitting on a desk or at a desk? What's the difference?
ngram shows that 'sitting at a desk' is a lot more preferred.
What's the difference between them?
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2"I'm at/on work?" "She's at/on the bus stop" "The book is at/on the table" "We went at/on a cruise (a ride)" "The cat walked at/on top of the wall" Which ones do you think fit? Why?– Mari-Lou ACommented yesterday
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Those questions are only meant to help you reflect between "at" and "on". I don't expect any answers.– Mari-Lou ACommented yesterday
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at work (work=place to work)/ on work (doing work) at the bust stop/ on the table / go on a cruise / on top of the wall– gomadengCommented yesterday
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1So you have a good understanding of the difference between the prepositions of at and on. All you answers are correct except for the second. It's "I'm working on a project” NOT "I on work”– Mari-Lou ACommented yesterday
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3 Answers
This is a case where Ngrams can't really help you much, because the same phrase is grammatically correct with either preposition, but will have a different meaning depending on which you choose.
"Sitting at a desk" implies someone sitting on a chair in front of a desk, likely (but not necessarily) for the purpose of interacting with something (keyboard, pencil and paper, etc.) on top of the desk. Students in a classroom will probably be sitting at their desks for most of the time.
"Sitting on a desk" means that the person (or cat, dog, bird...) is actually seated upon the desk itself, and not on a chair next to the desk! For a person at least, this is probably done less commonly than the first alternative, which explains why the Ngrams result showed this phrase being used less often.
Here is an illustration for both choices of preposition:
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8One can also sit on a sales/trading/whatever desk. But that has no bearing on their position to a given desk. Although it might mean they are under one... in the fetal position– GriffinCommented 2 days ago
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2@gomadeng Note, the usage obviously is based on the scenario pictured, in which the desk and the chair are separate. But we still use it the same way for products that are integrated, like classroom furniture in which a writing surface is attached to a chair. Commented 2 days ago
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12However, sometimes "on" can be used to indicate an assignment to a particular duty, which may be called a "desk". For example, on a television news program John might be "on the Sports Desk" which simply means that John is reporting on Sports -- there may not even be a physical desk involved. Commented yesterday
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9@CrashGordon: but John won't be sitting on the Sports Desk. I mention this to preempt any confusion in the mind of the OP.– TonyKCommented yesterday
Sitting on a desk implies that someone is actually sitting on top of a desk. Sitting at a desk implies that someone is sitting close to a desk as in reading, writing, using computer, making a speech etc
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At and on are two very different, distinct prepositions.
"I'll be waiting on the lamp-post" is a lot more painful than waiting at the lamp-post. On is, well, above while at is beside. There's a very big positional difference, and that difference is more than tangiable!
So, mental picture of a desk - one is either at (beside) it, or perched on (above, but part of your body touching) it.
