“On purpose” means intentionally, not by chance. It shows that someone did something consciously. You often hear it in apologies: “I didn't do it on purpose” means “I didn't mean to”.
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do + something + on purpose; didn't + verb + on purpose; by accident (opposite)
- She arrived early on purpose to get a seat near the front.
- The designers made the buttons large on purpose, so older users can tap them easily.
- Our teacher sometimes makes small mistakes on the board on purpose to check if we're listening.
What changed
First versionI'm sorry, I didn't break your mug by purpose.
RevisionI'm sorry, I didn't break your mug on purpose.
The preposition gets mixed up because of the pair “by accident”. These two opposites are built differently: “by accident”, but “on purpose”. In the sentence, only “by” changes to “on”.
“Deliberately” means the same but sounds more serious and is more common in the news and formal texts: “The fire was started deliberately.” “On purpose” is more conversational and usually comes at the end of the sentence: “She did it on purpose.”
Your turn
He knew the meeting started at ten, but he arrived twenty minutes late ___ because he wanted to skip the long introduction.
Show the answer
on purpose — He knew the start time and wanted to skip the introduction, so he was late intentionally: “on purpose”. “By accident” means “by chance” and contradicts “because he wanted”.
Think of something you once did on purpose, although the people around you thought it was an accident. Say what you did and why.
My friends thought I had forgotten my phone, but I left it at home on purpose because I wanted a quiet weekend.
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