Re: Working "with"; working "on"

["Edwin Skau" <eddy -dot- skau -at- gmail -dot- com>]

When I hear that somebody is 'working on' something, I infer that the person
is performing a  task on  that something.

When I hear that they're working with something, I infer that they're using
that something to complete a task.

So "I'm working on a painting" would generally mean that the person is
creating a painting, while "I'm working with a painting,"  would mean that
the person is creating a work of art, incorporating a painting as one of the
'ingredients'.

There has to be a simpler way to explain that.

But I'm sleepy. And that's a valid excuse.

Edwin




On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 11:00 PM, McLauchlan, Kevin <
Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com> wrote:

> When you hear or read " .. working on <object>...", do you infer a
> statement or question about something for which the worker has some
> ownership and responsibility?
>
>
>
> EXAMPLE: I'm working "on" some images; I am either creating them or
> editing them. If somebody needs them, they get them from me when I've
> done my thing.
>
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> When you hear or read " ... working with <object>...", do you infer a
> statement or question about something that is merely available to the
> worker, but their ownership or responsibility is for something else?
>
>
>
> EXAMPLE: I'm working "with" some images; I am using pre-existing images
> available to me to create something else, but I didn't necessarily
> create the images, and anybody who needs them isn't expecting me to have
> made or edited them (somebody else had that responsibility - I'm just a
> beneficiary, in passing).
>
>
>
> A Test Engineer asked me a question using the "working on" construction,
> and I had a brief "forgot to study for the big test" moment, until I
> asked some clarifying questions and reminded myself about something I'd
> done two weeks ago. If he'd used the "working with" construction, I
> would not have had the same feeling of "have I dropped a ball?", and I
> would probably have gotten to what he wanted to know more directly.
> Since it was obvious I'd gone off on a tangent as I scrambled to orient
> myself to his original question, he asked me if he should have worded it
> differently. I began to explain, but then wondered if I'd be giving him
> a personal distinction but not a generally held one.
>
>
>
> What say ye, O expert ones?
>
>
>
> -          Kevin  (who can't be bothered rejoining Copyeditors-l for
> this one question)
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