Grammar Practice in Context - David Bolton, Noel Goodey 1997

88 Prepositions of place: under, opposite, near, next to, etc.

Quick reference

• I Hue in a small milage outside London. Can I sit next to you?

There’s a cinema opposite the bank, on the other side of the road.

There’s a car park round the corner. They’ve put a flagon top of the castle.

/ couldn’t see because there was a tall man sitting in front of me.

• Above and over usually have the same meaning (’higher than’).

Above the door/Over the door was a sign saying ’Private

But over can also mean ’covering’. She put a scarf over her head.

• We use inside, rather than in, when we want to emphasise the interior of a place.

Do you want to look inside the house? There are some nice paintings in the hall.

• By, beside, next to all mean ’very close to’.

In the queue / stood by a man/next to a man/beside a man with long black hair.

Compare with near. I sat next to a TV presenter. (He was in the next seat.)

/ sat near a TV presenter, (farther away than next to, perhaps in the next row of seats)

• Below and under sometimes mean the same (’lower than’).

/ can see the dolphin below the surface/under the surface.

But we use below when we mean ’lower than’, but not ’directly under’.

/ stood at an upstairs window and I could see the river below me.

We use under when we mean ’covered by’. Where’s my pen? - It’s under that newspaper.

• Among and between don’t mean the same. We use among when something/someone is surrounded by a group of things/people. We don’t see these things or people separately.

/ found my watch among some old clothes on the floor.

We use between for two or more things/people when we see them as separate objects.

/sat between Tom and Zoe. There were flowers growing between the stones in the wall.

1 Read this news report and decide which answer, А, В, C or D best fits each space.

GWR Radio. The news at midday. There’s a blanket of snow (1) ... the whole of the southwest of England. 20cm of snow has fallen (2) ... Bristol.

All traffic has stopped and, as I look out of the studio window, I can see that the street (3) ... me is empty. I had to walk to the studio this morning, because my car was (4) ... a two-metre snowdrift. All rail links have been cut (5) ... the main towns in the region. Further heavy falls of snow are expected tonight in hilly areas (6) ... 600m.

Now, for some music. (7) ... my pile of letters this morning there’s one from Dave in Hotwells who wants to hear an old 1960s hit song.

2 Look at the picture and complete the description, using each of the following prepositions once.

on top of

next to

beside

behind

near

round

opposite

1 The family are sitting ... the kitchen table.

2 Mrs Grant is sitting ... her husband.

3 Sarah is sitting ... her mother.

4 Jack is standing ... his mother.

5 There's a pile of presents ... the table.

6 Sally is standing ... the door, ready to switch the lights off.

7 There’s a big candle ... the birthday cake.

3 Look at the picture and answer the questions, using these prepositions.

under

above

among

between

below

by

1 Where’s the man sitting in relation to the river? He’s sitting ...

2 Where’s he sitting in relation to the two bridges?

3 Where’s he sitting in relation to the willow tree?

4 Where’s the house in relation to the trees? It’s ...

5 Where’s the river in relation to the house? It’s ...

6 Where’s the bird sitting in relation to the man’s head? It’s sitting ...