Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[whatdaheck]

Hey there!
I need to know which one of the following is correct.
The doctor operated upon the patient.
Or
The doctor operated on the patient.
Please, let me know soon
Thanks a lot,
Maham

[Mister Micawber]

.
Both are fine here, I think. The American Heritage Dictionary has this to say:

In their uses to indicate spatial relations, on and upon are often interchangeable: It was resting on (or upon) two supports. We saw a finch light on (or upon) a bough. To indicate a relation between two things, however, instead of between an action and an end point, upon cannot always be used: Hand me the book on (not upon) the table. It was the only town on (not upon) the main line. Similarly, upon cannot always be used in place of on when the relation is not spatial: He wrote a book on (not upon) alchemy. She will be here on (not upon) Tuesday.
.
_________________
"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's

[whatdaheck]

Hey Mister Micawber!
Actually, I had the same MCQ in my exam. I chose "UPON", some of my colleagues did, "ON". In plain grammatical rules, which one should be considered correct? Would the examiners consider both correct? Or what?
Thanks,
Maham.

[Mister Micawber]

.
They probably want 'on'.
.
_________________
"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's

[whatdaheck]

Hey Mister Micawber!
U sure they want on? Coz one of my friends says she looked it up in some Dictionary and it says ON is used while operating some machine and in the real sense UPON goes while performing a surgery. Is it ok? What do u say?
Thanks,
Maham.

[Mister Micawber]

.
Google says:

27,000,000 English pages for "operate on"
267,000 English pages for "operate upon"


Odds are it's on.
.
_________________
"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's