Learn English – Jump or Jump over

ellipsismeaning-in-contextprepositions

"Jump over the turnstile" or "jump the turnstile".

I saw in a sentence "jump the turnstile."

Then I came to think whether it would be correct to say it like "jump over the turnstile".

Would that be correct?

Best Answer

I think both would be fine. However, "jump over" usually carries a literal meaning, where you jump over a physical object (like a fence or a turnstile or a dog). On the other hand, "jump" without a preposition usually implies a non-literal meaning: "jump the queue" would mean skipping the queue in some way - no physical jumping involved. Likewise, your phrase of "jumping over the turnstile" could imply actually jumping over the turnstile barrier, or it could be "jump the turnstile" meaning "finding a way to avoid going through the turnstile" (and not paying/not having a ticket).

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