Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[someday]

Today, I was ordering pretzels at a store, and wanted to order 4 of them: three with butter, sugar and cinnamon and one with only butter. I wondered how to say these toppings for the pretzels. I said �four pretzels, please� first, and while the employee was putting them in the oven, several ideas came to my mind. They are as follows:

1. Butter, sugar and cinnamon for three and only butter for (the last) one
2. Butter, sugar and cinnamon on three and only butter on (the last) one
3. Three with butter, sugar and cinnamon and one with only (just) butter.

When he asked how I would like them, to my disappointment, however, I ended up saying �butter, sugar and cinnamon, please.�

Basically, two things bothered me.
One is, for whatever the reason is, I feel very awkward to say ��(butter) for one.�
Do I have to put the quantity first and the features next or the opposite?

Probably, I might keep encountering these similar kinds of situations later on like at an ice cream parlor, at a pizza store, at a coffee shop or at a restaurant, especially, if I accompany friends or some family members and need to order for them. For example, if I order some ice cream for my friends, several situations may be possible as follows:
If I order two ice cream cones, I might say, �I would like two ice cream cones, one with strawberries and another one with chocolate. It I order three, �I would like three ice cream cones, one with strawberries, one with chocolates and one with blueberries.
If I order five, �I would like five ice cream cones, two with blackberries and three with pineapples. In this case, I feel more comfortable saying the quantity first and the features next. Is this okay, any errors?

The other concern is about the choice of prepositions. I am not sure whether I have to use �for� or �on� for pretzels as in 1 and 2 above. What about ice cream? Could I say �chocolate and strawberries for two or on two� or �two with chocolate and strawberries?�

As always, thanks.

[Lorikeet]