Giving information about place: prepositions - Position of prepositional phrases

Giving information about place: prepositions

This section explains how to indicate 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.

This usually involves using a prepositional phrase as an adjunct. For general information on adjuncts, see paragraphs 1 to 1

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

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.

54 A preposition is a word which opens up the possibilities of saying more about a thing or an action, because you can choose any appropriate noun group 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 which are used to talk about place or destination:

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

55 Many prepositions can also be adverbs, that is, they can be used without an object. See paragraph 83 for a list of these.

56 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', can be used for several different meanings. The meaning and usage of prepositions should be checked where possible in a dictionary.

57 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 can also combine with complex noun groups to describe place in some detail. See paragraph 2.297 for information on the use of 'of' in noun group.

I stood atone in the middle of the yard.

He was sitting towards the rear end of the room.

He went to the back of the store.

Position of prepositional phrases

after verbs indicating position 58 Prepositional phrases are most commonly used after verbs. They are used after verbs which 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 indicate position:

after verbs 59 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 wire was too strong and pulled a hook out or the floor.

He took her to Edinburgh.

after verbs indicating activities 60 Prepositional phrases are used after verbs indicating activities to specify where an activity takes place.

children playing in the street.

The meeting was being held in a community centre in Logan Heights.

He was practising high jumps in the garden.

61 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 beginning of clause: for emphasis or contrast 62 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.

Through the glass of the frontage she could see a waiter bending attentively over a woman of about her own age.

at beginning of clause: inversion of subject and verb 63 If you put a prepositional phrase which refers to the position of something at the beginning of the clause when you are using a verb intransitively, 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.

If you are using 'be' as a main verb, the verb always comes before the subject; so, for example, you cannot say 'Under her chin a colossal brooch was'.

Under her chin was a colossal brooch.

Next to it is a different sign which says simply 'Beware'.

Alongside him on the rostrum will be Mr Mitchell Fromstein.

Indicating position

64 The prepositional phrases in the following examples indicate the place where an action occurs, or the place where someone or something is.

The children shouted, waving leafy branches above their heads.

The whole play takes place at a beach club.

Two minutes later we were safely inside the taxi.

He stood near the door.

She kept his picture on her bedside table.

65 The following prepositions are used to specify position:

66 Some prepositions can only be used with a restricted group of nouns.

For example, 'aboard' is used with a noun referring to a form of transport, such as 'ship', 'plane', 'train', or 'bus', or with the name of a particular ship, the flight number for a particular plane journey, and so on.

There's something terribly wrong aboard this ship, Dr Marlowe.

He's not aboard the Morning Rose.

getting aboard that flight to Rome.

He climbed aboard a truck.

Here is a list of nouns which you can use with 'aboard' to indicate position:

'Astride' is mainly used to indicate that a person has one leg on each side of something, usually sitting on it or riding it.

He whipped out a chair and sat astride it.

I made it there astride one of these courageous little donkeys.

When 'before' is used to indicate position, the object is usually a person or group of people.

Leading representatives were put firmly in their place before a live television audience.

He appeared before a disciplinary committee.

'All over' usually has a large or indefinite area as its object.

Hundreds of Jews all over the world are finding their way back to their ancestral traditions.

There were pieces of ship all over the place.

USAGE NOTE 67 Some prepositions have several meanings. For example, 'on' can be used to indicate that someone or something is resting on a horizontal surface or is attached to something, or that someone's place of work is an area such as a farm or a building site.

The phone was on the floor in the hallway.

I lowered myself into the ravine on a rope tied to the trunk of a tree.

My father worked on a farm.

prepositions with comparative forms 68 'Near', 'near to', and 'close to' have comparative forms that can also be used as prepositions.

New lockers had been installed nearer their workplace.

Venus is much nearer to the Sun than the Earth.

The judge's bench was closer to me than Ruchell's chair.

more specific position 69 If you want to say more exactly which part of the other thing an object is nearest to, or exactly which part of an area or room it is in, you can use one of the following prepositions: 'at', 'by', 'in', 'near', 'on', 'round'. 'To' and 'towards', usually used to indicate direction, are used to express position in a more approximate way.

The objects of the prepositions are nouns referring to parts of an object of place, such as 'top', 'bottom', and 'edge'. Here is a list of words which are used to refer to parts of an object or place:

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', can be 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.

It was a very tall elm and there were thorn bushes round its base.

There was a gate on our left.

70 Note that two or three word prepositions which include the word 'of' are more specific because 'of' can be followed by any nominal group.

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.

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

You can 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 to lodge in the net.

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

It is half an hour from the Pinewood Studios and forty-five minutes from London.

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.

72 To indicate both where something is and how far from another object or place it is, the distance can be stated before the following prepositions:

The fish was meandering a few feet above the sandy bottom.

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.

Indicating direction

73 The prepositional phrases in the following examples indicate 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 dived 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.

74 The following prepositions are used to indicate destinations and targets:

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 indicate direction.

Sewing baskets, pots, calabashes, stools, and clothes would be hurled out the door.

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 7

USAGE NOTE 75 There are some restrictions in the choice of preposition.

'At' is not usually used to indicate the place that the subject of the verb is moving to or towards. It is used to indicate 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 indicate 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 76 You can 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.

When the light changed they turned to the left and drove away.

several directions 77 The prepositions 'about', 'round', 'around', and 'all over' are used to indicate movement in several directions within a place.

I wandered round the orchard.

The old woman jumped around the clearing in front of the children as she acted out her story.

The Rangers began climbing all over the ship.

starting point 78 Prepositional phrases can indicate 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 kitchen below.

She turned and rushed out of the room.

He took his hand off her arm.

'from' before prepositions and adverbs 79 'From' can also be used before another preposition or before some adverbs to indicate 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' can be used before the following adverbs:

Prepositional phrases as qualifiers

80 As well as being used as adjuncts after verbs, prepositional phrases can be used after nouns as qualifiers to give information about place.

The muscles below Peter's knees were beginning to ache a little.

The chestnut trees in the back garden were a blazing orange.

They stood and watched the boats on the river.

the clock in her bedroom.

the little white fence round the rockery.

the black shapeless masses to the left and right of the road.

81 Prepositional phrases can be added after roads, routes, and so on, to specify them by indicating their destination or direction.

the main road from Paris to Marseilles.

the road between the camp and the hospital.

the road through the canyon.

Similarly, doors, entrances, and so on can be specified by adding prepositional phrases indicating where you can get to through them.

He opened the door to his room.

at the entrance to the library.

Prepositional phrases can also be used after nouns to indicate where someone or something comes from.

a veterinary officer from Singapore.

an engineer from Hertfordshire.

Other ways of giving information about place

82 As well as a prepositional phrase, an adverb can be used as an adjunct to give information about place. For more general information about adverbs see the section beginning at paragraph 1

No birds or animals came near.

Seagulls were circling overhead.

In many cases the same word can used as a preposition and as an adverb.

The limb was severed below the elbow.

This information is summarized below.

83 Here is a list of words which are used as adverbs to indicate position. Note that some adverbs consist of more than one word, for example, 'out of doors'.

The common adverbs of place, such as 'in' and 'up', which are used as adverbs and as prepositions are sometimes called adverb particles or adverbial particles. The following words are used as adverbs to indicate position, and can also be used as prepositions:

84 An adverb can be used as an adjunct if the adverb itself makes it clear what place or direction you mean.

The young men hated working underground.

The engine droned on as we flew northward.

You can also use an adverbs as an adjunct when it is clear from the context what place or direction you are referring to. For example, you may have mentioned the place earlier, or the adverb may refer to your own location, or to the location of the person or thing being talked about.

We went to the bottom of the field where a wagon stood half-loaded. We crawled underneath, between the wheels.

She walked away and my mother stood in the middle of the road, watching.

They had spent the autumn of 1855 in the Seeoni hills. And it was here that Hilary had written a report on the events that followed the annexation.

USAGE NOTE 85 A small group of adverbs of position are used to indicate the area in which a situation exists:

Everything we used was bought locally.

Unlike most other adverbs of position, they cannot be used after 'be' to state the position of something.

USAGE NOTE 86 Another small group of adverbs are used to indicate where two or more people or things are in relation to each other: 'together', 'apart', 'side by side' and 'abreast'.

All the villager and visitors would sit together round the fire.

a little kneeling figure revealed by two angels holding the curtains apart.

adverbs of position with a following adjunct 87 Some adverbs of position are normally followed by another adjunct of position. This is particularly common when the verb 'be' used as a main verb.

Barbara's down at the cottage.

Adam was halfway up the stairs.

Out on the quiet surface of the river, something moved.

She is up in her own bedroom.

adverbs of position with adjunct, modifier, or qualifier 88 The adverbs 'deep', 'far', 'high', and 'low', which indicate distance as well as position, are also usually followed by another adjunct of position or are modified or qualified in some other way.

Many of the eggs remain buried deep among the sand grains.

One plane, flying very low, swept back and forth.

'Deep down', 'far away', 'high up', and 'low down' are often used instead the adverbs on their own.

The window was high up, miles above the rocks.

Sita scraped a shallow cavity low down in the wall.

'Far' and 'far away' are often qualified by a prepositional phrase beginning with 'from'.

I was standing far away from the ball.

We lived far from the nearest village.

89 Some adverbs have comparative and superlative forms. The superlative form is not used to indicate position, but to specify which of several things you are talking about.

'Deeper', 'further' (or 'farther'), 'higher', and 'lower' are usually followed by another adjunct of position.

Further along the beach, a thin trickle of smoke was climbing into the sky.

The beans are a bit higher on the stalk this year.

'Nearer' can be used as an adverb as well as a preposition (see paragraph 68 above). 'Closer' can only be used as an adverb.

The hills were nearer now.

Thousands of tourists stood watching or milled around trying to get closer.

90 There are four indefinite adverbs of position: 'anywhere', 'everywhere', 'nowhere', and 'somewhere'. They are used to indicate a position which is not definite or is very general.

I dropped my cigar somewhere round here.

I thought I'd seen you somewhere.

There were bicycles everywhere.

No-one can find Howard or Barbara anywhere.

'Nowhere' makes a clause negative.

There was nowhere to hide.

If 'nowhere' is at the beginning of a clause, the subject of the verb must be placed after an auxiliary or a form of 'be' or 'have'.

Nowhere have I seen any serious mention of this.

Nowhere are they overwhelmingly numerous.

91 There are several structures you can use with indefinite place adverbs in order to give more information. You can use:

an adverb of place:

I would like to work somewhere abroad.

We're certainly nowhere near.

an adjective:

We could go to Majorca if you want somewhere lively.

Are you going somewhere special?

a prepositional phrase:

There were no elms anywhere in sight.

In 1917, Kollontai was the only woman in any government anywhere in the world.

or a 'to'-infinitive clause:

We mentioned that we were looking for somewhere to live.

I wanted to have somewhere to put it.

You can also use a relative clause. Note that the relative pronoun is usually omitted.

Unreason is alive and well and living anywhere you care to name.

Everywhere I went, people were angry or suspicious.

92 'Else' is used after the indefinite place adverb to indicate a different or additional place.

We could hold the meeting somewhere else.

More people die in bed than anywhere else.

'Elsewhere' can be used instead of 'somewhere else'.

Gwen pulled down a folding seat and strapped herself in. The other girls had found seats elsewhere.

Elsewhere in the tropics, rainfall is notoriously variable and unreliable.

93 'Everywhere' and 'anywhere' can also be used as the subjects of verbs, especially 'be'.

Sometimes I feel that anywhere, just anywhere, would be better than this.

I looked around for a shop where I could buy chocolate, but everywhere was closed.

Destinations and directions

adverbs indicating destinations and targets 94 Adverbs can be used to indicate destinations and targets.

'I have expected you,' she said, inviting him inside.

No birds or animals came near.

The following adverbs are used to indicate destinations or targets:

The comparative forms 'nearer' and 'closer' are more commonly used than 'near' or 'close'.

Come nearer.

'Deep', 'far', 'high', and 'low' are also used as adverbs indicating a destination or target but only when followed by another adjunct or modified in some other way.

The dancers sprang high into the air brandishing their spears.

The comparative forms 'deeper', 'further' (or 'farther'), 'higher', and 'lower' are also used, and so is the superlative form 'furthest' (or 'farthest). These do not have to be followed by another adjunct or modified in another way.

We left the waterfall and climbed higher.

People have to trek further and further from the villages.

relative direction 95 Adverbs can be used to indicate direction in relation to the particular position of the person or thing you are talking about.

Go north from Leicester Square up Wardour Street.

Don't took down.

the part of the engine that was spinning around.

Mrs James gave a little cry and hurried on.

The wave of hot air knocked her backwards.

He turned left and began strolling slowly down the street.

They can also indicate the direction in which someone or something is facing in relation to the front of the place they are in.

The seats face forward.

The following adverbs are used to indicate direction of this sort:

96 The adverbs 'round', 'about', and 'around' can indicate movement in several directions within a place.

monkeys noisily rushing about.

They won't want anyone else trampling around.

The following adverbial expressions indicate repeated movement in different directions:

At other times she would pace up and down outside the trailer.

Burke was walking back and forth as he spoke.

The Princess ran hither and thither in the orchard.

97 The following adverbs can be used to indicate movement away from someone or something:

The farmer just laughed and rode away.

It took just one tug to pull them out.

The adverb 'apart' indicates that two or more things move away from each other.

I rushed in and tried to pull the dogs apart.

98 The following adverbs can be used to indicate movement along a road, path, or line:

The water was now racing downhill between its narrowed stony walls.

It wasn't the moving that kept me warm; it was the effort of pushing Daisy uphill.

99 The following adverbs can be used to indicate movement across or past something:

There's an aircraft coming over.

'Where are you going?' demanded Miss Craig as Florrie rushed by.

indefinite direction 100 The indefinite place adverbs are used to indicate a destination or direction when you want to be more general or vague.

He went off somewhere for a shooting weekend.

Dust blew everywhere, swirling over dry caked mountains.

There was hardly anywhere to go.

Soblen could have gone elsewhere.

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

They were getting nowhere and had other things to do.

See paragraph 90 for more information on these indefinite adverbs.

adverbs as qualifiers 101 Like prepositional phrases, adverbs can also be used as qualifiers after nouns rather than as adjuncts after verbs.

the man who watched him from the terrace above.

The man opposite rises, and lifts down her case.

People everywhere are becoming more conscious of inequality.

the road south.

Noun groups referring to place: place names

102 There are a number of verbs of position and movement which are followed by noun groups referring to places instead of by adjuncts. These are described in paragraph 3.22.

Peel approached the building.

103 Instead of using a noun group to refer to a place, you can use the name of the place.

This great block of land became Antarctica.

a Baltic island roughly the size of the Isle of Man

Outstanding examples of her work are included in an exhibition at the National Museum of Film and Photograph in Bradford.

verbs after place names 104 Most place names are singular nouns, although some look like plural nouns, for example 'The Netherlands'. Some place names, for example those referring to groups of islands or mountains, are plural nouns. Verbs used with place names follow the normal rules, so a singular verb form is used with a singular noun and a plural verb form with a plural noun.

Milan is the most interesting city in the world.

The Andes split the country down the middle.

place names referring to people 105 The name of a place can be used to refer to the people who live there. If the place name is a singular noun, a singular verb form is still used, even though the noun is being used to refer to a plural concept.

Europe was sick of war.

The name of a country or its capital city is often used to refer to the government of that country.

Britain and France jointly suggested a plan.

Washington had put a great deaf of pressure on Tokyo.

106 Place names can also be used to refer to a well-known historical or recent event that occurred there, such as a battle, a disaster, an international sports competition, or an important political meeting.

After Waterloo, trade and industry surged again.

the effect of Chernobyl on British agriculture.

107 Many place names can be used as modifiers, to indicate where things come from or are characteristic of as well as where things are. If a place name begins with 'the', you omit it when you use the name as a modifier.

a London hotel.

Arctic explorers.

She has a Midlands accent.

the New Zealand rugby team.

Note that the names of continents and of many countries cannot be used as modifiers, instead, you use classifying adjectives such as 'African' and 'Italian'.

Other uses of prepositional phrases

108 Prepositions are commonly used to indicate things other than place as well, for example to indicate a time, a means, or an attribute. The following paragraphs from 109 to 116 describe these uses briefly, and give cross references to fuller explanations elsewhere. The following prepositions are only or mainly used to indicate things other than place:

109 Although the main use of prepositional phrases is to talk about position or direction, they are also used to refer to time.

The women's lacrosse tournament is at Motspur Park on Saturday.

They are expecting to announce the sale within the next few days.

The use of prepositions to talk about time is explained in paragraphs 99 and 102 to 107.

110 Prepositional phrases are also used to say something more about the manner in which an action was performed, or the way in which it should be done.

'Oh yes,' Etta sneered in an offensive way.

A bird can change direction by dipping one wing and lifting the other.

He brushed back his hair with his hand.

Prepositional phrases such as 'on foot' or 'by bus' can be used to indicate a method of travelling.

My husband got fined in Germany for crossing a road on foot.

I travelled home by bus.

The use of adverbs to talk about manner is explained in the section beginning at paragraph 3

111 You can also use prepositional phrases to give more information about the feelings of the person performing the action.

Fanny saw with amazement that the letter was addressed to herself.

'like' and 'as' in comparison 112 You can use the preposition 'like' to indicate that someone or something behaves in a similar way to someone or something else.

He was panting like a bloodhound.

She shuffled like an old lady.

There is more information about comparison in general in the section beginning at paragraph 2.108.

113 You can also use 'like' and 'as' to say that someone or something is treated in a similar way to someone or something else. The noun group after 'like' or 'as' describes the person or thing affected by the action the person or thing doing the action.

My parents dressed me like a little doll.

Their parents continue to treat them as children.

She treated her more like a daughter than a companion.

You can also use expressions such as 'like this' or 'like that' to refer to a particular manner of doing something.

If you're going to behave like this, the best thing you can do is to go back to bed.

How dare you speak to me like that?

The use of 'like' and 'as' in subordinate clauses is explained in paragraphs 8.78 to 8.80.

114 You can say that one way of doing something has as much of a quality as another way of doing something, by using 'as' followed by an adverb followed by another 'as'. The second 'as' is followed by a noun group, a pronoun, an adjunct, or a clause.

The company has not grown as quickly as many of its rivals.

She wanted someone to talk to as badly as I did.

circumstances of an action 115 You can use prepositional phrases to indicate something about the circumstances accompanying an action.

'No,' she said with a defiant look.

struggling to establish democracy under adverse conditions.

reason, cause or purpose 116 Prepositional phrases can also be used to say something about the reason for an action, or the cause or purpose of it.

In 1923, the Prime Minister resigned because of ill health.

He was dying of pneumonia.

'As' is used to indicate the function or purpose of something.

He worked as a truck driver.

During the war they used the theatre as a warehouse.

Prepositions used with verbs

in phrasal verbs 117 Some verbs always have a prepositional phrase after them in particular meanings. They are called phrasal verbs, and information about them can be found in paragraphs 3.84 to 3.117.

She sailed through her exams.

What are you getting at?

118 Some verbs can have a prepositional phrase instead of a direct object. For more information on these verbs, see paragraph 3.11.

The Polish Army fought the Germans for nearly five weeks.

She was fighting against history.

We climbed the mountain.

I climbed up the tree.

119 A prepositional phrase is used as the indirect object of a ditransitive verb when the indirect object comes after the direct object.

For information on ditransitive verbs see paragraphs 3.74 to 3.83.

If the action described by the verb involves the transfer of something from one person or thing to another, the preposition 'to' is used.

Woodward finished the second page and passed it to the editor.

The recovered animals will be given to zoos.

If the action involves a person doing something for the benefit of another person, the preposition 'for' is used.

She left a note for her on the table.

120 Some reciprocal verbs require a prepositional phrase when a second noun group is mentioned.

For information on reciprocal verbs, see paragraphs 3.69 to 3.73.

Our return coincided with the arrival of bad weather.

Catholic youths clashed with police in Belfast.

121 Prepositional phrases are used after verbs in the passive.

90 men found themselves cut off by storms.

Moisture must be drawn out first with salt.

The use of prepositional phrases after passive verbs is explained in paragraphs 10.14 to 10.1

122 When verbs are followed by prepositional phrases and adverbs, a long prepositional phrase is usually placed after the adverb.

He listened calmly to the report of his aides.

A short prepositional phrase can come before or after the adverb.

The women shouted at me savagely.

Miss Burns looked calmly at Marianne.

Prepositional phrases after nouns and adjectives

123 Prepositional phrases are sometimes used as qualifiers to describe the subject or object of a clause rather than the manner of an action or situation. See the section beginning at paragraph 2.292 for more information.

a girt in a dark grey dress.

a man with a quick temper.

particular prepositions after nouns and adjectives 124 Particular prepositions are used after some nouns and adjectives when adding information. See paragraphs 2.49 to 2.54 and 2.304 to 2.307.

My respect for her is absolutely enormous.

We welcome the Governments emphasis on voluntary codes of practice.

the solicitor responsible for pursuing the claim.

comparisons with 'than' and 'like' 125 A prepositional phrase with 'than' often indicates the person or thing that is the basis of a comparison.

He was smarter than you.

She was more refined than her husband.

For more information on comparisons, see the section beginning at paragraph 2.108.

The preposition 'like' is used to indicate that someone or something is similar to someone or something else, without comparing any specific quality.

The British forces are like permanent tourists.

We need many more people like these.

'of' 126 'Of' can be used in prepositional phrases after any noun to indicate various relationships between one noun group and another, especially belonging, possession, and connection. It can be used to state what something is, what it contains, what it is made from, of how much of it there is.

He was a member of the golf club.

She's a friend of Stephen's.

the Mayor of Moscow.

Extended meanings of prepositions

127 The uses of prepositional phrases as adjuncts of time and manner are really extended or metaphorical uses that cover a wide range of prepositions and are part of a metaphor that affects many other aspects of language as well. For example, when we talk about 'approaching a point in time', 'a short stretch of time', and so on, we are using words that refer to space to talk about time.

However, there are also extended meanings that apply only to small groups of prepositions, or sometimes only to individual prepositions.

For example, 'in' basically indicates position inside a container.

The baby was found in a carrier bag.

It will end up in the dustbin.

However, it is often used with reference to areas rather than containers.

Emma sat in an armchair with her legs crossed.

Then we were told what had happened in Sheffield.

'In' is also used to indicate relative position.

We had to do something in the centre of the town to attract visitors.

However, 'in' is also used in ways that extend its meaning further away from physical position. For example, it can be used to say that someone is a involved in a particular situation, group, or activity.

They were in no danger.

The child was in trouble with the police.

I remember when the Colonels were in power in Greece.

Mr Emile Gumbs has remained in office but the island has no Parliament.

It can indicate inclusion in a more abstract way.

Some of her early Hollywood experiences were used in her 1923 film, Mary of the Movies.

In any book, you have a moral purpose.

It can also indicate that something has reached a particular stage, or appears in a particular way.

The first primroses are in flowery.

Her hair was in pigtails over either shoulder.

A few other prepositions with a basic meaning relating to containers can be used in similar ways: for example 'within', 'into', 'out of'.

The US ought to do everything within reason to encourage General Noriega to leave.

Those men, when we get them into the police force, are going to be real heroes.

Heroines considered attractive by earlier generations now seem hopelessly out of touch.