In a certain film, America was at the brink of war at sea against Soviet Union.
And then a fleet commander says
"Stand by to fire. On my count, Five Four, Three…"
On the other hand, in a plane, someone says to one who at the brink of a drop from the plane,
"On my mark three two one go!"
Does "On my count" have same meaning as "On my mark"?
And what does it mean exactly?
I mean, I want to know the meaning of "ON" in this sorts of sentences.
Someone answered me
Hmm, On my count or On my mark is a fixed expression. You normally say it like:
"On your mark, get set, go."
Its usually said in the beginning of the race.
But in the film, they said "my" not "your".
Best Answer
They are normally equivalent.
On my count means I am going to count (down) and when I reach zero, you do what I told you to do.
On my mark means I am going to mark (indicate) the moment that I want you to do what I told you to do.
In both cases, the possessive is used to indicate that it is the speaker who will mark the start of the action.
That is not always the case; sometimes someone will say on three!, and then several people count together one, two, three - for instance when they are cooperating in a combined physical effort, the counting can help them coordinate their strength together.
On your marks refers to different marks: they are the markings on a track where the athletes should position themselves before a race. The_marks_ in on my mark is a marking of a point in time.