student asking question

Is it okay to use "at every corner" instead of "on every corner"?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Absolutely you can say "at every corner". It could be argued that the speaker is making a grammatical mistake by saying "on every corner" instead of saying "at every corner". "On" is used to refer to a position on a surface. By saying "on every corner", the corner could be thought to be a surface where these vending machines are placed. If she said "at every corner" we're referring to a position or location as a point of reference, which is what she means. However, you will find that this is a common thing native speakers do. They may interchange these words sometimes in everyday conversation when it comes to location. Ex: I'm on the corner of your street. Ex: I'm at the corner of your street.

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