Teacher Discussion Forums

Several of my Chinese colleagues are taking an English exam. As usual, the format is a gap fill with four alternatives. One of the questions was 'She hit him ....... the face' with 'in' 'on' 'at' and 'with'. Being an argumentative type of bloke, I said that they were all grammatically correct answers. But only one was the 'Chinese correct'. Which one is it?

'In' is likely the most common collocation and my first choice.

'On' makes sense if its naughty maids with feather dusters (think, Stiffler in AP3): She hit/tapped him lightly on the nose with her duster.

'With' conjures up images of ultra-violent manga full of martial artists doing all sorts of inhuman and frankly impossible things (i.e. ripping one person's face off before hitting somebody else with it).

'At' just doesn't fly in my book.

Did similar contexts spring to your mind, bigjohn?

I read this a bit earlier and really enjoyed the idea of explaining "She hit him with the face."

"She hit him at the Face." Works assuming the Face is a place. Maybe a popular bar or dance club.

What did the Chinese teachers say when you told them they all could work?

BTW, I'm also going with "in" as the "Chinese correct," but I have a feeling I may be wrong.

And on the next leg of their bar hop she kicked him at/in Groin.

Here's a game...

How many other prepositions or single words can you insert and still be correct?

Rules are one per customer:

She hit him about the face.

Thanks for all your responses..Fluffyhamster (chortle chortle), you're quite right there..I was a little annoyed by the examiners asking such a question. I see it all the time. I was thinking 'in the face' yes, 'on the face' ok, 'with the face' was more like 'with the face of the cricket bat' and 'at the face' was, in my offbeat mind, on a mountain.
Thanks again! And sorry I posted it in the wrong place...I'll do better next time, promise

She hit him over the face (with a pillow?)