'To' or 'at' in 'arrived late to the film/party'?

Conversation started Jul 25, 2015 at 16:45.

user62015

Jul 25, 2015 16:45

Emily Mann said she and a friend arrived late to the film and took a seat in the back.

Do you think the preposition "to" is fine here?

I think the writer should have used the preposition "for"

"Arrived late to the film?"

Damkerng T.

"for" would sound wrong.

"to" may work because the film is not a place.

user62015

But we don't use the preposition to after the verb arrive?

Damkerng T.

The normal one is 'at'.

user62015

Yes.

I checked in the dictionary.

And it says we shouldn't use the preposition to after the verb arrive.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@user62015 If you say for, it'd sound like they're there to do something to the film.

But I'm no at expert.

user62015

Jul 25, 2015 16:49

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M I agree.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

I always get it the wrong way around.

user62015

But to is also wrong.

Damkerng T.

Where did you find the sentence?

user62015

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3174066/…

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. In the universe.

CopperKettle

Jul 25, 2015 16:50

Evening all!

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Bah, the preposition master is here.

Damkerng T.

(Also it's late to the film, not arrived at the film.)

CopperKettle

I don't get the meaning of the last line in a poem's stanza..

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@CopperKettle Context, context. . .I mean, post it here.

CopperKettle

"“Then he ’ll ride among the hills
To the wide world past the river,
There to put away all wrong;
To make straight distorted wills,
And to empty the broad quiver
Which the wicked bear along."

How could one empty the broad quiver which his adversaries bear along?

Maybe by being a target to them?

The poem is here

BBL (0:

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Jul 25, 2015 16:53

Hmm, I'll think about it @Copper.

Damkerng T.

Is this quiver a container for arrows

and used figuratively?

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Could be.

@Copper why not ask it on ELL?

Damkerng T.

'Cause lit-crit is off-topic.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Is it on-topic on ELU?

Damkerng T.

Yes, "[arrive] late to the party" is common.

Because it's not exactly "arrive to", it's "late to".

user62015

Jul 25, 2015 16:57

@DamkerngT. Okay.

Making sense.

I appreciate your hard work.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

He's drowning in sweat already.

Damkerng T.

books.google.com/ngrams/…

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@Dam king when to use COCA, when to use ngrams and when to use PEU?

Damkerng T.

I use all of them, depending on which one gives the best clues.

[arrive] at|to|for the: corpus.byu.edu/coca/?c=coca&q=40663028

[arrive] late at|to|for the: corpus.byu.edu/coca/x1.asp?c=coca&q=40663027

In this case, # of examples in COCA is too few.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Akh, where's a link to PEU?

Damkerng T.

Jul 25, 2015 17:08

Ah, PEU is a book! :-)

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

No online versions?

Damkerng T.

Not that I'm aware of. But I have its app version.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Well of course 270.1 is book sectioning, but I'm thinking it must have something online.

I only could download its pdf.

3rd edition.

Hey @Dam 5 editions were out, right?

Damkerng T.

Oh, I think mine is like 4th.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

11 megabytes. . .Hmm . . .The Blue book is 10.4 MBs.

Anonymous

Jul 25, 2015 17:22

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M I'm sure you can find my real name if you try hard enough, but that's kinda creepy.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

At least tell me which chatroom.

ELU?

Anonymous

I don't think I've said my full name in any SE chat rooms.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

You mean you never chatted with your full name as your username?

Anonymous

I don't think so

Damkerng T.

A-ha! arrived late at the *,arrived late to the *,arrived late for the * on Google Ngram will return no result for 'to' if we choose British English.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Jul 25, 2015 17:24

Whatever, all of this is just a joke.

I can make better uses of my time, like chatting here.

@DamkerngT. I thought Britons loved to.

Damkerng T.

It seems like 'at' still prevails, but 'late for the meeting' and 'late to the party' are gaining.

Conversation ended Jul 25, 2015 at 17:25.

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