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If I want to instruct people to contact me using my email, which preposition should I use? That is, which preposition should replace PREP in the following:

Please contact me PREP helen@gmail.com

(The email address is made up)

Thank you!

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I most commonly see the preposition at in this context. You could also use via, but this is less common.

(The email address is made up)

As an aside, that email address almost certainly exists and belongs to someone. The domain example.com has been created exactly for this purpose:

This domain is for use in illustrative examples in documents. You may use this domain in literature without prior coordination or asking for permission.

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  • Thank you randomhead! I didn't know about the example.com-thingy, so thanks for that; however, it wouldn't really make any sense as a stand-in for an email address, would it? So, do you know if there's something similar one can use for email addresses?
    – Helen
    Apr 18, 2021 at 18:39
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    @helen you could use "example@example.com" or "foobar@example.com" or "helen@example.com" or anything else you desire. An email address is simply <user>@<domain> and "example.com" is provided for the express purpose of being an illustrative domain.
    – randomhead
    Apr 18, 2021 at 19:27
  • Ah! I see! Thank you again!
    – Helen
    Apr 19, 2021 at 8:55
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As an approach to answering this type of question, you can start by guessing some possible prepositions: "at", "by" and "with" would seem to be possible, but perhaps you can think of some more.

Then you can use google to see if examples of "please contact me at" exists. Use quotes to make sure you find that exact phrase.

You will find that "please contact me at (phone number)" and "please contact me at (email address)" are quite common.

But "by" is not used this way, and nor is "with". You do so "please contact me by email" to give the method, but not the address.

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  • Yes, this is definitely the "Teach a man to fish" answer (as opposed to the "Here's £5. Go get yourself some fish and chips" version).
    – FumbleFingers
    Apr 18, 2021 at 13:26
  • Thanks James K – I did exactly this, and ended up even more confused, since everything seems to be possible... That's why I asked the question in here – not to have someone else do the "research" for me, but to have native speakers' intuitive response. My own guesses were either "on" or "at", and both seemed pretty common. In hindsight I realise I should perhaps have phrased the question in a different way, for instance "Which is the better preposition – "on" or "at"?, but I didn't want to "bias" the answers.
    – Helen
    Apr 18, 2021 at 18:36
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    If you have done prior research you should include a reference to it in your question. This at least saves us from reiterating obvious answers, and above all, it helps you get a more specific and relevant answer! See How to Ask
    – James K
    Apr 18, 2021 at 19:29
  • Oh, I missed that... sorry – won't happen again! Thanks for telling me :)
    – Helen
    Apr 19, 2021 at 8:56

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