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to fall on

to fall on

23 3.0
To happen on a certain day or date
  • phrasal verb
  • /fɔl ɑn/
translation icon : caer en
  • There's a reason that we scheduled quote get rid of it day to fall on a Friday.

Examples

  • Under the FCCC, the initial responsibility for reducing greenhouse gas emissions falls on the major emitters of those gases.

    Academic text (1997)
  • We've at last drawn a line and published our findings, and it will now fall on Parliament to determine how it wishes to deal with them.

  • Lena's birthday is gonna fall on the most powerful solstice in 5000 years.

  • ...in local news, 'tis the season to remind you of the annual Christmas pageant in the town of Emmanuel, which will actually fall on Christmas Day this year.

  • Valentine's Day always falls on a Thursday.

  • My birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year.

  • Easter falls on a different date each spring.

Synonyms

to fall
vsto fall on
651 2.1

Happen at a particular time or place

happens specifically on a particular day or date

Surface Forms

fall on infinitive
fell on past
fallen on past participle
falling on present participle
falls on third person singular

Morphology

fall + on

The meaning 'to happen on a particular day' is directly compositional: 'fall' understood as 'occur' plus the temporal preposition 'on' indicating date yields 'occur on [a date]'. This is a regular verb + temporal-preposition pattern that is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Fall on gives the picture of something dropping and landing on a day in a calendar. Here fall is the dropping and on is the day where it lands. So when we say an event falls on a date, we mean it 'happens' on that day.