Collins Cobuild English Grammar (130 page)

He went off
somewhere
for a shooting weekend.
Dust blew
everywhere
, swirling over dry caked mountains.
There was hardly
anywhere
to go.
Can’t you play
elsewhere
?

Nowhere
is mainly used metaphorically, to indicate lack of progress.

They were getting
nowhere
and had other things to do.

See paragraph
6.61
for more information on these indefinite adverbs.

adverbs after nouns:
the man opposite
,
the road south

6.72
    Like prepositional phrases, adverbs can also be placed after nouns.

They watched him from the terrace
above
.
The man
opposite
got up.
People
everywhere
are becoming aware of the problem.
We took the road
south
.

Prepositions

6.73
    This section explains how
prepositional phrases
are used to show the place where an action occurs, the place where someone or something is, the place they are going to or coming from, or the direction they are moving in.

A
prepositional phrase
consists of a
preposition
and its
object
, which is nearly always a noun.

The most basic use of most prepositions is to indicate position and direction.

He fumbled
in his pocket
.
On your left
is the river.
Why did he not drive
to Valence
?
The voice was coming
from my apartment
.
I ran inside and bounded
up the stairs
.

6.74
    A
preposition
is a word that allows you to say more about a thing or an action, because you can choose any appropriate noun after it as its object. Most prepositions are single words, although there are some that consist of more than one word, such as
out of
and
in between
.

Here is a list of common one-word prepositions that are used to talk about place or destination:

about

above

across

along

alongside

among

around

at

before

behind

below

beneath

beside

between

beyond

by

down

from

in

inside

into

near

off

on

opposite

outside

over

past

round

through

throughout

to

toward
(Am)

towards

under

underneath

up

within

Note that
toward
and
towards
are both used in American English, with no difference in meaning.

Here is a list of prepositions that consist of more than one word and that are used to talk about place or destination:

across from

ahead of

all over

away from

close by

close to

in between

in front of

near to

next to

on top of

out of

6.75
    Many prepositions can also be adverbs; that is, they can be used without an object. See paragraph
6.54
for a list of these.

BE CAREFUL

6.76
    Because English has a large number of prepositions, some of them, such as
beside
,
by
,
near
, and
next to
, are very close in meaning. Other prepositions, for example
at
and
in
, have several different meanings. The meaning and usage of prepositions should be checked where possible in a dictionary.

6.77
    Prepositions have an
object
, which comes after the preposition.

The switch is by
the door
.
Look behind
you
, Willie!

Note that if a personal pronoun is used as the object of a preposition, it must be the object pronoun:
me
,
you
,
him
,
her
,
it
,
us
,
them
.

Prepositions also combine with complex noun phrases to describe places in some detail. See paragraph
2.280
for information on the use of
of
in noun phrases.

I stood alone
in the middle of the yard
.
He was sitting
towards the end of the room
.
He went
to the back of the store
.

Position of prepositional phrases

after verbs showing position

6.78
    Prepositional phrases are most commonly used after verbs. They are used after verbs that indicate position in order to specify where something is.

She
lives
in Newcastle.
An old piano
stood
in the corner of the room.
You ought to
stay
out of the sun.

The following verbs are often used to show position:

be

belong

hang

lie

live

remain

sit

be situated

stand

stay

After verbs indicating movement

6.79
    Prepositional phrases are used after verbs indicating movement to specify the direction of movement.

I
went
into the kitchen and began to make the dinner.
Mrs Kaul
was leading
him to his seat.
The others
burst
from their tents.
The storm
had uprooted
trees from the ground.
He
took
her to Edinburgh.

after verbs indicating activities

6.80
    Prepositional phrases are used after verbs indicating activities to specify where an activity takes place.

…children
playing
in the street.
The meeting
was held
at a community centre in Logan Heights.
He
was practising
high jumps in the garden.

6.81
    Prepositional phrases usually come at the end of the clause, after the verb, or after the object of the verb if there is one.

We landed
at a small airport
.
We put the children’s toys
in a big box
.

at the beginning of a clause: for emphasis or contrast

6.82
    If you want to focus on the prepositional phrase for emphasis or contrast, it can be placed at the beginning of the clause. This ordering is mainly used in descriptive writing or reports.

In the garden
everything was peaceful.
At the top of the tree
was a brown cat.

at the beginning of a clause: verb before subject

6.83
    If you put a prepositional phrase that refers to the position of something at the beginning of the clause when you are using a verb with no object, the normal word order after it is often changed, and the verb is placed before the subject.

On the ceiling
hung dustpans and brushes
.
Inside the box
lie the group’s US mining assets
.
Beyond them
lay the fields
.