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This is the situation. We live on the 4th floor of a 23-storey apartment building (a block of flats). My little daughter is just 6 and she wants to go to her friend's home on the 20th floor.

I don't want to take her to her friend, so I just put her in the elevator (lift) and pressed Number 20. There is another number in red (Number 14 because there is a person in the elevator at that time).

I want my daughter to leave the elevator when it stops at the 20th not 14th or else she will get lost.

There is one example in Oxford dictionary

This train doesn’t stop at Oxford.

We say "on the floor".

The elevator will stop when it is on the 14th floor and the 20th floor.

Is it correct for me to say to my daughter "leave when the elevator stops at the 20th not 14th" or "leave when the elevator stops on the 20th not 14th"?

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  • You can use either. Both are very usual and common.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Sep 29 at 6:56
  • It is equally correct to regard the floors of a building, at which an elevator might stop, as places, requiring 'at', or levels, requiring 'on'.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Sep 29 at 8:01
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    Both "on" and "at" are used in this context. The issue is the entire phrasing. A native English speaker would say, "Get off the elevator on the 20th floor, not the 14th." Using a definite article in front of "14th" is natural here.
    – Wastrel
    Commented Sep 29 at 16:36
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    I think part of the question, which the accepted answer does not address, is whether one can just say "leave when the elevator stops at the 20th, not 14th", omitting the word "floor" and also, in the second case, the article "the". To my non-native ears this sounds very weird, but perhaps a native speaker can chime in. (Of course, one can say "leave when the elevator stops at the 20th floor, not the 14th", but that's a different matter.)
    – Pilcrow
    Commented Sep 29 at 16:52

1 Answer 1

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I add to what @Michael Harvey said. The Ngram chart shows that both on and at are possible.

Ngram

enter image description here

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