Prepositions: publish [to/in/on] a blog?

[Denis]

Hi,

I'm a software developer from Russia. I'm trying to blog (link in my signature) about my new program in English, which is somewhat tricky to me since I absolutely don't have that "instinctive grasp" of English that Daniel mentions in his post about prepositions (http://www.dailywritingtips.com/go-ahead-put-that-preposition-at-the-end/).

I'm very glad I found this site and this forum where I can (hopefully) find answers to my questions.

My first question is: Which prepositions can I use with the word "blog"?
I have to use this word very often since my program has to do with blogging, but I don't feel that the prepositions I use are always correct.


"I saw that article ___ the DWT blog."
[I]"I want to post that picture ___ my blog." [to/in/on] (BTW, can I use the word "post" as a verb here?)
The description of my program "... desktop application that helps take series of screen shots, annotate them and instantly publish ___ a blog" [to/in/on]


Thanks in advance,
Denis

[DanielScocco]

Denis, welcome to the Forum.

The post you are referring to was written by Maeve, our English guru.

She is traveling right now, but hopefully next week she will start hanging at the Forum as well.

As for your question, I would say "on a blog."

You can post on a blog. You can use a picture on your blog.

I don't have any particular reason to justify that, it just sounds better on my ears.

Anyone feel free to disagree :).

[Denis]

Thanks Daniel and my apologies to Maeve. For some reason I assumed it was Daniel's post.

When I'm not sure about prepositions, I usually try different variations as phrase searches on Google. If there are millions of matches, the usage is most likely legitimate. If there are only few matches or none at all, the usage is clearly incorrect.

However, sometimes more than one phrase variation return significant number of results. To me, it means that each variant can be used (most likely) in its own context. Unfortunately, I don't always reveal the pattern. This was the case with different prepositions used with the word "blog".

Here are some Google searches I tried:
* "publish to * blog" (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22publish+to+*+blog%22) (282,000 result)
* "publish on * blog" (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22publish+on+*+blog%22) (72,700 results)
* "publish in * blog" (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22publish+in+*+blog%22) (10,800 results)
* "to post to * blog" (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22to+post+to+*+blog%22) (19,500 results)
* "to post on * blog" (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22to+post+on+*+blog%22) (57,400 results)
* "to post in * blog" (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22to+post+in+*+blog%22) (18,100 results)

I mostly use "on", but there is one place in the user interface of my program (screen shot (http://useshots.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/prepositions-with-the-word-blog/)) where I used "publish to:" followed by a selected blog's title (e.g. Publish to: UseShots Blog). I wonder, if it is a legitimate usage.

[DanielScocco]

I also use that Google trick :). Will write it on the blog to share with everyone.

[--Deb]

I think I use "to" and "on" more or less equally ...

[susabelle]

[QUOTE=Denis;240]Hi,

"I saw that article ___ the DWT blog."
[I]"I want to post that picture ___ my blog." [to/in/on] (BTW, can I use the word "post" as a verb here?)
The description of my program "... desktop application that helps take series of screen shots, annotate them and instantly publish ___ a blog" [to/in/on]


As a dedicated blogger (I write in three of my own blogs plus one tech blog), I would do it this way.

1. I saw the article ON the DWT blog.
2. I want to post that picture ON my blog.
3. ...instantly publish TO a blog.

Hope that helps!

[Ali]

I'm with Susabelle here,

"On" sounds right when you want to say where something has been published.

Compare with:
"I watched it ON television last night."
"My short story will be read ON the radio."

"To" sounds right for the technical process of uploading the post.

Compare with:
"I uploaded the files TO the server."
"I saved the file TO a folder."

I suspect that the distinctions are quite subjective, though, and there's probably no right or wrong answer! It's interesting that "in" sounds wrong for a blog (I wouldn't personally say "I published the post IN my blog") but it's what we'd use for a book or magazine.

Susabelle -- I think "post" is fine as a verb here. It's certainly in common use like that at the moment (as well as in the much older meaning of "to post a letter"...)

Ali

[QuillingQuillQuiller]

Just check which verb is correlated;

"I saw that article ___ the DWT blog.
saw on (read [I]on; "The news was mentioned on paper" and not "in paper".)

"I want to post that picture ___ my blog." [to/in/on]
post on ("my blog" refers as the surface or board; "Winners were just posted on the announcement board.")

"... desktop application that helps take series of screen shots, annotate them and instantly publish ___ a blog". [to/in/on]
publish to (declare to. In this case it has a target, "a blog", acts as the surface of impact; "He published his novel to the public.")