ON

1. On means to go forward, or to do something involving forward movement. ‘We drove on through the storm until we reached the nearest town’.

Carry, cheer, come, drive, egg, embark, fly, go, lead, move, pass, press, ramble, ride, sail, send, walk on.

2. Related to Meaning 1 (above) is the idea of increasing or further developing. ‘The teacher asked Beryl to enlarge on the basic idea of electrolysis’.

Add, build, capitalize, cash (in), cheer, come, enlarge, expand, get, go, help, press, put, spur, take, wave on.

3. Another meaning of on, also similar to 1 & 2 (above), is that of continuing to do something. ‘Don’t worry about the noise; just carry on with your homework’.

Carry, drag, draw, drone, go, keep, press, read, stay, talk, walk on.

4. Coinciding with its meaning as a preposition, on is also used in phrasal verbs to mean on top of. ‘I stepped on a banana peel and fell on my back’.

Just as the adverbial particle in can become into (see Unit 5, pp. 41), on becomes onto when the direct object is mentioned, or when the emphasis is on movement. ‘The rock stars jumped onto the platform an started singing’.

In this respect, on and onto are also used to mean to board (a vehicle). ‘We got onto the train just before it started to move out of the station’.

Climb, drag, get, heap, help, jump, let, lift, pile, pull, push, step, tread on.

5. On means to connect (a machine, an electrical appliance…) or to establish the flow of (a process…). (n this sense, it is the opposite of off. ‘that’s the button you must press to turn on the cell phone’.

Be, keep, leave, log, put, stay, switch, turn on.

6. On is also used to talk about getting dressed. ‘You’d better put on your thick overcoat a storm is brewing uo outside’.

Get, have, keep, pull, put, slip, try on.

7. Other meanings of on

Bank, bring, call, carry, catch, count, draw, dwell, get, go, hang, hang (to), have, hit, hold, lay, let, live, look, pick, put, take, tell, touch, try, turn, work on.