Which expression isn't an old way of speaking: Fell to, Fell on, Fell onto, or Dropped to [closed]

Question

My linguistic teacher told me I am speaking like the people who lived hundreds of years ago, when I told him, "The paper fall to the ground when I pass it by," this afternoon. Please tell me which form below is correct when speaking? In addition, which expression seems more modern in conversational English?

1.The paper fell to the ground when I passed by. (fell to)

2.The paper fell on the ground when I passed by. (fell on)

3.The paper fell onto the ground when I passed by. (fell onto)

4.The paper fell onto the ground when I passed by it. (add it behind by)

5.The paper dropped onto the ground when I passed by.

Please select one answer from these 5 or type another one that you think is better and more appropriate than them.

Answer 1

You said to your instructor, "The paper fall to the ground when I pass it by." THAT is the sentence that the instructor was objecting to because it is grammatically incorrect, which makes it sound, I guess, like you are an older person who never quite learned English. I'm not 100% sure what the instructor meant by that critique. Nevertheless, any of your five sentences is better than the one that you spoke to your instructor. I personally think Sentence 1 sounds most like what a native speaker would say. Sentence 5 is probably the worst because it makes it sound like the paper moved on its own (dropped onto the ground).