Questions tagged [prepositions]
Prepositions are function words like "to", "over", "through", "in". The meaning of a sentence can be dramatically altered by choosing the wrong preposition. Questions need to include enough information for the intended meaning to be deduced.
4,249 questions
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'Denote something as "X" ' vs 'denote something by "X" '
This question "Denoted by" or just "denoted"? discusses whether we need to say "denoted by" or just "denoted".
I am wondering whether it is grammatically ...
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Does there need to be an "of" in the construction "as [adjective] [of?] a [noun] as possible"? [duplicate]
Which of these two phrases is grammatically correct and why?
"as fast a reply as possible"
"as fast of a reply as possible"
The second phrase sounds perhaps a bit more natural to ...
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Why does CGEL categorize "around" and "about" as a preposition and an adverb, respectively, when used before a numeral?
I thought CGEL (2002) categorized both around and about as prepositions when used before a cardinal numeral (e.g., around /about six). Even Brett Reynolds, who I know is a university professor, wrote ...
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Usage of the preposition 'on' to indicate location: any changes in BrE?
In BrE, the preposition "on" is typically used to indicate a specific location, such as streets, avenues, or other exact addresses, as in: "I live on Cornmarket Street".
And yet, I ...
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Why are cars in late 1970s and early 1980s suddenly "in the street" instead of "on the street"?"
Looking at Google Ngrams, there has been a steady shift from 'in the street' to 'on the street' over the last 200 years. For example:
However, in the case of cars, there is a weird peak between 1970 ...
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What does 'to' mean in this sentence? [closed]
What does "to" mean in this:
Roared out by hundreds of voices to the tramp of marching feet, it was terrifying
From 1984
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Is the phrase "is submitted <something>" without a preposition correct?
I am following a Coursera course on something related to Large Language Models (LLMs). In the Module quiz, one question reads:
An LLM is submitted a prompt that asks whether[...]
This strikes me as ...
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'A lot of salespeople are shouting at the market': is this statement ambiguous?
Is the title an ambiguous sentence, or has it only one correct meaning, where the salespeople are arguing with the market?
I think it has two meanings:
[1] the salespeople are shouting and they ...
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'MET (WITH)', 'ASK (FOR)': verbal phrase idiomaticity
(A) MEET: (transitive and intransitive) 1. to experience something such as a difficulty, challenge, or success:
All our attempts met with failure.
(B) MEET WITH (transitive)
3. to experience ...
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Is “like” a preposition in the following title?
I’m trying to decide whether I should capitalize “like” in accordance with Chicago style for title case. Is it functioning as a preposition in this essay title?
What Is It Like to Be a Bat?
What Is It ...
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Unclear use (usage) of preposition 'for'
While studying woodworking techniques, I came across this sentence:
Many of the wonderful antique pieces of furniture that have survived for us to enjoy today utilized lumber that was "rift-sawn&...
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Preposition stranding: Adverbials with noun phrases
According to Swan, M. (2017) PEU (BrE)
During and since are not normally put at the ends of clauses.
Jose’s the person I’m angry with.
Since when have you been working for her?
In adverbial ...
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Is there a nuanced difference between “concerned with” and “concerned about”? [duplicate]
In formal and academic writing, I often encounter both phrases:
“The study is concerned with the effects of climate change.”
“The researchers are concerned about the rise in sea levels.”
At first ...
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'With': ambitransitive verbs and the meaning of 'with' in 'teeming with wildlife' etc
(Intransitive) My nose was running with snot
(Transive) My nose was running snot (into my mouth)
Is there a specific meaning of with here?
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'That' (pronoun): in, on, by, or with which
That (pronoun): 'in, on, by, or with which'
Each summer that the concerts take place.
https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=that
Is that replaceable by nonrestrictive when?
Can that be just ...
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I live in a townlet, a village, a colony or a community vs I live at a townlet, a village, a colony or a community [duplicate]
I’m well aware that most English speakers say they live in a county, municipality, city, town, or country. But when it comes to smaller settlements that are part of a city or county, like a townlet, a ...
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"has spoken dismissively in" - What does this mean?
I have a sentence I'm having trouble following:
"A contemporary literary historian (Roger Pooley, in English Prose of the Seventeenth Century, 1992) has spoken dismissively in this connection of ...
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AT x position vs IN x position
I’m translating IT>EN text strings for an HMI interface of an automated machine (I am not an English native speaker). The translation is for US operators.
In many cases, I need to indicate that a ...
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"Annoyed with" vs "Annoyed by"? [duplicate]
When do we use "annoyed by" and when "annoyed with" ? And what difference does that make in the meaning?
In the grammar book that I have been reading, there is a rules stated in ...
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What's the difference between 'help with the cooking' and 'help out with the cooking'?
To my understanding, which I don't have enough confidence to support, if you need to 'help out with the cooking', it's highly likely that it can't be done without you. Whereas if we're talking about ...
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Is the noun/pronoun after preposition considered the object of the verb?
Is "A" the object of the Verb or the object of preposition in the case below?
Verb + preposition + A (noun/pronoun)
Ex: talk to her; look at her; sleep on the sofa
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Exemplification: 'such as X, as Y'
Oats are used to make foods such as oatmeal, as livestock feed.
Feed: food for animals, especially livestock.
Microsoft® Encarta® 2009
Is "such as X, as Y" just a typo?
---------------------...
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Bare infinitives between quotation marks
Deprecate: its traditional meaning is "express condemnation of," but it has taken on the additional sense of "depreciate,
belittle, disparage" in "self-deprecate".
...
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"...embedded one inch lateral to the wound edge" or "...embedded one inch laterally to the wound edge"
First time poster, so please let me know if there are any rules/conventions that I have failed to follow.
Consider the following two sentences:
"The needle was embedded one inch lateral to the ...
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"Starting end of July"
Is it ever correct to phase out the proposition "at" in a sentence like "The project should be starting (at) the end of July"?
I feel like phrases like "I'll be reviewing that ...
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(Subtle) differences between “upon” and “on” [closed]
Answers here and dictionaries say that practically upon is a formal/ literary form of on; that is only partially true, and I am sure there are too many instances where they are not interchangeable, ...
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The light cast the cafe into an orange light or in
what's the correct preposition here? I want to say that the light tints a room orange, but I'm so confused about prepositions:
The light cast the room in an orange colour
The light cast the room into ...
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Intrude on someone's home? or into? or different preposition?
When I say I intrude on someone's privacy, that's correct. But how do I use intrude, verb, when referring to a physical space like someone's home, or doesn't this work? Like intrude on someone's home?...
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Which one is correct prepostion? [closed]
What is the correct preposition to use with 'interested'—'in' or 'on'?
Are there specific grammatical rules or contextual differences that determine which one to use in a sentence?
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from both within and without/outside
I know there have been a few questions already about the word "without" in relation to the word "within" and, reading them, I know for example that "without" does in fact ...
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Is ‘drop by’ formal language?
Today I had a session with my Japanese language partner and she told me this:
After buying the present for my father's birthday, we dropped by at the bakery to buy cake.
I feel like drop by is ...
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towards our teens or in our teens
I was reading a text with missing prepositions with my students and one of them asked if we can use towards our teens instead of in our teens. I told them we cannot, as "towards" requires ...
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'Phrasal verb' versus 'Verb phrase'
Could someone elucidate the difference and essential characteristics of phrasal verbs and verb phrases?
Phrasal verb: Your plan doesn't agree with mine.
Verb phrase: He is doing well.
Here why ...
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In a place vs On a place [duplicate]
The line between life and death is a dangerous place to be on.
Vs
The line between life and death is a dangerous place to be in.
You would be on a line, street, border etc. But you are always in a ...
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“… keep at least $20 on a dollar bill” What does ‘on’ mean here? [closed]
“The amount of money you should start with in a cash register is between $100 and $150. Also, a good rule of thumb is to keep at least $20 ON a dollar bill and $20 ON a $5 bill. That amount allows you ...
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Why do certain verbs lack the expected preposition "with"?
I've noticed an interesting phenomenon in English verb usage that seems counterintuitive to me. Specifically, certain verbs like "marry" and "fight" tend not to use the preposition ...
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funded by or with
My Master’s degree from the University of X, funded by the President Scholarship, enriched my learning experiences.
In the above sentence, is "funded by" appropriate? Will it be "...
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Why is "for" preceded by a comma when it is used in the same way as "because"?
It seems that when "for" is used essentially as a subordinating conjunction even though it's supposedly a coordinating conjunction (correct me if I'm wrong on that), it's preceded by a comma ...
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"Implement into" sounds wrong to me; am I off-base?
Someone I work with repeatedly uses the phrase "implement into," instead of "implement in." E.g, "We're going to implement this step into our process." (This is in US ...
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"ask of" meaning "ask about"
I occasionally come across use of "ask of" where I would expect "ask about"
The participant discussed that some adolescents may not initiate a conversation about a personal issue ...
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Up and Down prepositions with the same meaning as "to" preposition of direction [duplicate]
My questions in basically how does this form of usage of these prepositions work within this context? i have been reading all the way long that this is one of the senses that "Up" and "...
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Can this phrase "the Conservatives opposite" be regarded as apposition structure?
Everyone, the content is from a Labor MP's speech at House of Commons. I was just wondering the following bold word "opposite" could be regarded as an appositive of the previous "the ...
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Is it that 'of' plus the words after it modifies what is before it or that the words after 'of' is modified by what is before it?
I have looked at the word of and the words coming after it as a whole that modifies the words before it. For example, I think friend in 'a friend of mine' is the head, so is piece in 'a piece of paper'...
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Introductory clause and preposition
I'm reading a draft of a paper and the following clause makes me feel uncomfortable:
A crucial point to note here is that with the proposed service, A is the equivalent of only from x% to y% of the ...
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Reflexive pronouns and prepositions of direction [duplicate]
Can you please explain the following?
She dragged it toward her. (Why not: She dragged it toward herself.)
He pulled her against him. (Why not: He pulled her against himself.)
I look around me. (But: ...
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"Different than" followed by nominative case?
I'm going to try to explain my question as clearly as I can:
"Different" usually takes a preposition, either "from" (standard English regardless of region), "to" (British ...
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Is it correct to say "I cleared their path from snow"?
I am reading Frankenstein and came across this sentence,
I cleared their path from snow.
and I think it should be
I cleared the snow from their path.
So please, which one is it?
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What Is the Best Way to Analyse Prepositional Phrases in Post-Head Position Containing a Pre-head Adverb?
In the following sentence, what is the best approach to analyse the phrase 'currently with Jack'?
[2] The girl currently with Jack doesn't know what's in store for her.
Without the adverb 'currently,...
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Deck as verb and the accompanying preposition
As per Cambridge dictionary and others, the word 'deck' in its verb form means to decorate or add something to something to make an effect: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/deck
...
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Past Perfect or Simple Past When Using Since in Reported Speech? [duplicate]
While reading The Beautiful and Damned, I stumbled upon a passage that caught my attention. It stated,
Only with the flow through the transmitter of his own familiar but faintly impersonal tone did ...
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