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>   * 料理をしているところ **に** 電話がかかってきて困った。
>   * デートをしているところ **を** 友だちに見られてしまった。
>   * 電車に乗ったところ **で** 今日は祝日だと気づいた。
>

In the above sentences, what decide the particle following ところ? They all seem
to indicate a happening during/while the user is engaged in an activity.
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2014-10-07T03:03:52.030
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2014-10-20T17:38:09.873
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question
grammar
Particles following ところ （に, を, and で）
It's the verb that counts.

  1. A phone call came to the part where I am cooking.
  2. My friend witnessed the part where I am going out.
  3. I noticed today was a holiday at the part where I got on the train.
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2014-10-07T05:23:10.787
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As user4092 said, it is the verb that matters.

I will break down each sentence by explaining the verb.

# Sentences

  1. > 料理をしているところに電話がかかってきて困った。

`電話がかかってくる` accepts a number of things marked by に, and one of them is the
time (compare: 「仕事中に電話がかかってきた。」).

Thus, `料理をしているところ` in this first sentence is functioning as a time.

  2. > デートをしているところを友だちに見られてしまった。

Explaining this one is a little complicated since it's just a complicated
sentence (using the adversarial passive), so you may want to come back to this
after you know more Japanese, but anyways...

**Necessary tangent:** 見られる is the passive of 見る. When you form a passive, you
lift something from the underlying sentence to が, and the が-marked thing in
the underlying sentence to に.

In this case, the original sentence is 友達が［（私が）デートをしているところ］を見た, and the 私が
gets promoted to the が-marked thing of the passive, and of course 友達 becomes
the に-marked thing:

> 友達が ［（私が）デートをしているところ］を 見た  
>  ⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓  
>  （私が） ［デートをしているところ］を 友達に 見られた

So, **the thing being marked by を is the thing being seen**.

As such, `デートをしているところ` here is _not_ behaving like a time as in (1), but
instead as a noun referring to a past event.

  3. > 電車に乗ったところで今日は祝日だと気づいた。

Unlike (1), `気付く` doesn't accept times in the に position.

So, instead, `電車に乗ったところ` here functions as a "location in time" where you did
the realizing of `今日は祝日だ`.

Compare, 「電車に乗った時点で今日は祝日だと気づいた。」, where 〜時点 is another "location in time" sort
of thing.

# Summary

Basically, the complicated thing here is not ところ -- ところ is just flexible in
terms of what it can behave as (time, location, noun) -- and that flexibility
brings out the complexity of verbs in Japanese.

Being able to pick the right place to jam ところ with a verb more or less comes
down having a good feeling for the verb and understanding what arguments it
accepts.
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2014-10-07T17:21:57.283
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1. > _Just as / while_ I was cooking, the phone rang. 

  2. > _While_ I was in a date, I was seen by a friend.

However, をstress 「デートをしている」 as a direct complement, so literally, "the friend
saw the fact I was in a date" .

  3. > While on the train, I noticed that today was a day off. 

で stresses place here.

* * *

If you want to understand them better as well as their translation, you should
check **subordinate sentences** regarding grammar.
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answer