Learn English – “Fax it to me at number” versus “fax it to me to number”

phrase-usage

The phrase people use when they want others to email or call them is "Please call/email me at […]." It got me thinking about faxing.

Since fax numbers are like phone numbers, do you say, "please fax it to me at number xxx-xxx-xxxx" or "please fax it to me to number xxx-xxx-xxxx"?

Best Answer

In US usage there's a simple rule: use to with either the recipient or the address, unless both recipient and address are specified, in which case use at with the address

Fax/mail/email/telegraph/send/dispatch a communication

  1. To the recipient, or
  2. To the address, or
  3. To the recipient at the address.

Even if your syntax permits you to reduce the recipient phrase to a bare pronoun, without the to, retain at for the address. Using to gives the sentence a faintly 16th-century ring.

  Fax me your answer ASAP at 555-555-5555.
? Fax me your answer ASAP to 555-555-5555.

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