Collins Cobuild English Grammar (132 page)

When the place that you are referring to is obvious or has been stated earlier, you use the nouns in the singular with the determiner
the
.

I ran inside and bounded up the stairs. Wendy was standing
at the top
.
He was sitting
towards the rear
.
To the north
are the main gardens.
We found him sitting
by the fireside
.

Other determiners, for example
this
and
each
, are used with nouns such as
side
,
end
, and
edge
, because an object or place may have several sides, ends, or edges.

Loosen the two screws
at each end
of the fuse.
Standing
on either side
of him were two younger men.

If the person or thing has been mentioned or is obvious, a possessive determiner can be used.

…a doll that turns brown in the sun, except for
under its swimsuit
.
There was a gate
on our left
.

6.90
    Note that two- or three-word prepositions that include the word
of
are more specific because
of
can be followed by any noun.

She turned and rushed
out of the room
.
There was a man standing
in front of me
.
My sister started piling the books
on top of each other
.

specific distances

6.91
    The place where an action occurs, or where someone or something is, can also be shown by stating its distance from another object or place.

You mention the actual distance before a prepositional phrase with
from
or
away from
.

Here he sat on the terrace
a few feet from the roaring traffic
.
The ball swerved
two feet away from her
.

Distance is also expressed in terms of the time taken to travel it.

My house is only
20 minutes from where I work
.
They lived only
two or three days away from Juffure
.

The method of travelling can be stated to be even more precise.

It is less than
an hour’s drive from here
.
It’s about
five minutes’ walk from the bus stop
.

showing position and distance

6.92
    To show both where something is and how far from another object or place it is, the distance is stated before the following prepositions:

above

along

behind

below

beneath

beyond

down

inside

outside

past

under

up

The volcano is only
a few hundred metres below sea level
.

The distance can also be stated before prepositional phrases including
left
and
right
or points of the compass such as
north
and
south-east
.

We lived
forty miles to the east of Ottawa
.

Showing direction

6.93
    The prepositional phrases in the following examples show the place that someone or something is going to, or the place that they are moving towards.

I’m going with her
to Australia
.
They jumped
into the water
.
He saw his mother running
towards him
.
He screwed the lid tightly
onto the top of the jar
.
She stuck her knitting needles
into a ball of wool
.

prepositions used

6.94
    The following prepositions are used to show destinations and targets:

aboard

all over

along

alongside

around

at

away from

beside

down

from

inside

into

near

off

onto

out of

round

to

toward
(American)

towards

up

Note that
onto
is sometimes written as two words.

The bird hopped up
on to
a higher branch.

In American English and some varieties of British English,
out
is used as a preposition without
of
to show direction.

He walked
out the door
for the last time.

The prepositional phrases
to the left
and
to the right
are also used to indicate direction, from your own viewpoint or that of someone else. See paragraph
6.96
.

USAGE NOTE

6.95
    There are some restrictions in the choice of preposition.

At
is not usually used to show the place that the subject of the verb is moving to or towards. It is used to show what someone is looking at, or what they cause an object to move towards.

They were staring
at a garage roof
.
Supporters threw petals
at his car
.

After
is used to show that someone or something is following another moving person or thing, or is moving in the same direction but behind them.

He hurried
after his men
.
…dragging the sacks
after us
along the ground.

direction relative to the front

6.96
    You use the prepositional phrases
to the left
and
to the right
to say which direction someone or something is moving in relation to the direction they are facing.

They turned
to the left
and drove away.

several directions

6.97
    The prepositions
about
,
round
,
around
, and
all over
are used to show movement in several directions within a place.

I wandered
round the garden
.
She jumped
around the room
in front of the children as she acted out her story.
The boys began climbing
all over the ship
.

Round
is not used as a preposition in American English;
around
is always used instead.

starting point

6.98
    Prepositional phrases show the place or object that is the starting point of a movement.

The following prepositions are used:
away from
,
from
,
off
, and
out of
.

The coffee was sent up by the caterer
from the kitchens
below.
She turned and rushed
out of the room
.
He took his hand
off her arm
.

from
before prepositions and adverbs

6.99
    
From
is also used before another preposition or before some adverbs to talk about the starting point of a movement.

I had taken his drinking bowl
from beneath the kitchen table
.
…goods imported
from abroad
.
Thomas had stopped bringing his lunch
from home
.

From
is used before the following adverbs:

above

abroad

anywhere

behind

below

beneath

downstairs

elsewhere

everywhere

here

home

inside

next door

nowhere

outside

overseas

somewhere