Open your book on page 4. correct ??

[angelene001]

Is this sentence correct?
Open your book on page 4.

and

Can we say:
Open you book at page 4.

 

[5jj]

I use 'at'; 'on' sounds unnatural to me.

 

[SoothingDave]

"Open your book to page 4" is what I would expect to hear.

 

[5jj]

"Open your book to page 4" is what I would expect to hear.

That's fine for me, too.

 

[BrunaBC]

Wow! All my life I heard my teachers saying open the book on page x. And I say that to my students too. My jaw is dropped.
But from now on I'll use at or to.

 

[Barb_D]

You can say "look on page 4" but "open your books to (American) or to or at (British) page 4."

 

[angelene001]

Wow! All my life I heard my teachers saying open the book on page x. And I say that to my students too. My jaw is dropped.
But from now on I'll use at or to.

I've got the same problem.
My teacher always said "open your books on page 4"
When I came across "open your book at page 4" in Teacher's book published by Longman I was sure that's a mistake.
I looked it up in Longman Exams Dictionary I found:
"(on) page 5/20/360 etc
▪ The address is given on page 15."

However, now I can see that there is also:
"see/turn to/go to page 22/49 etc"

So what's the rule?
when do you use "on" and when "to" with the word 'page'?

Is "open on page 4" only unnatural or is it a mistake?

I see that native speaker wouldn't say "open your book on page 4"

 

[CarloSsS]

Wow! All my life I heard my teachers saying open the book on page x. And I say that to my students too. My jaw is dropped.
But from now on I'll use at or to.

You're not at all alone in that. Many non-native English teachers make that mistake. In my country, few teachers and learners know that the correct usage is "open your book to/at page xy".

 

[5jj]

So what's the rule?
when do you use "on" and when "to" with the word 'page'?

As Barb wrote, "You can say "look on page 4" but "open your books to (American) or to or at (British) page 4."

I tell my students to open their books at page x, or to turn to page x. They can find information on page x. As we have said, 'Open your books on page x' is not natural English.

 

[emsr2d2]

I knew a BrE native speaker who taught in Spain who always used "on". She said she knew it was unnatural/incorrect but she got so fed up with her students querying/arguing about it, she decided "on" was easier.