In this thread i'd like to learn some exceptions to で indicating a location at wich an action takes place. Here are 5 exceptions that come to my mind aside from obvious ある/いる:
座る
置く
住む
勤める
積もる
But i suspect there are more exceptions. Please post 'em.
Those verbs are categorized into four different types of verbs.
1)
ある, いる
に indicates the location of existence.
2)
座る, 住む, 積もる, 着く, 寄る, 通う, 乗る, 泊まる, 入る,,,
These verbs are intransitive and に can be considered to indicate the destination. They are similar to 行く, 来る, 帰る or 戻る, which just express "to transfer to a location", whereas these verbs describe how the subject transfer to a location (e.g. 寄る, 通う), or what they do at a location after reaching there(e.g. 座る, 住む, 泊まる).
3)
置く, 動かす, 移す, 乗せる, 掛ける, 入れる, 掛ける, 留める, 貼る, 付ける,,,
These verbs are close to group 2, but these are transitive (expressing "to transfer a thing to a location", "how the subject transfer a thing to a location" or "what they do about/aginst/for a thing at a location after reaching there").
4)
勤める
に indicates the target (company where you work for), not a location.
As you can see above, に doesn't actually indicate a location of action with these verbs. で is used to indicate the location of the action even for for all these verbs except group 1.
e.g.
体育館で床に座る。
教室で本を机の上に置く。
日本で英会話学校に勤めている。
Incidentally, で can be used with ある. In this case, ある means "(an event) is held/happens/occurs" and で indicates the location of an event is held/happens/occurs.
e.g.
今年、ブラジルでワールドカップがある。
昨日うちの前で事故があった。
