Adverbs and Prepositions for Place
Indicating location or direction
Adverbs and Prepositions
| ADVERB | PREPOSITION |
|---|---|
An adverb for place indicates movement toward a place or in a direction. |
The same meaning can be expressed with a preposition phrase, which indicates movement toward an object — person, place or thing. A prepositional phrase includes a preposition and a noun phrase (object). |
He went inside/ in. ("the house" is understood from context) |
He went inside/ in the house. |
He walked back. ("home" or "where he came from") |
He walked in back of us. |
The guards wouldn't let us go through. (The location is understood from context.) |
We walked through the area. |
The captain went below. (The object is understood from context.) |
He went below deck. |
Adverbs that optionally take objects
We went . (adverb) |
We went the ship. (preposition) |
*aboard / onboard |
about |
above |
across |
after |
against |
along |
around |
before |
behind |
below |
beneath |
besides |
between |
beyond |
by |
down |
for |
in/ inside |
near |
off |
on |
opposite |
out / outside |
over |
past |
round |
since |
through/ throughout |
to |
under/ underneath |
up |
within |
without |
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Adverbs that do not take objects
*abroad |
*abreast |
*aground |
*ahead |
*apart |
*ashore |
*aside |
*away |
east/ eastward |
north/ northward |
south/ southward |
west/ westward |
back/ backward |
forth/ foreward |
home |
together |
downstairs (hill, stream, wind, stage) |
upstairs (hill, stream, wind, stage) |
indoors |
outdoors (side) |
underground (foot) |
overhead (board, land, board) |
upward (down-, in--, on-, out-, etc.) |
somewhere (no, any) |
here |
there
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* The words with the prefix a- originate a form of the preposition on (afoot, afar, abed) . Dictionary.com
Commonly Confused
| VERB + PREPOSITION | A PHRASAL VERB (TWO-WORD VERB) |
|---|---|
When an adverb is used after a verb, the adverb keeps its own meaning. |
However, with a phrasal verb, the verb + particle combine to form one meaning. See Phrasal Verbs. |
My dog wandered off. (off modifies where it wandered) |
The airplane took off. |
She put the cat out. (out modifies where she put) |
She put the fire out. |
I pushed my cat away. (pushed modifies where she pushed it) |
I had my cat put away. |
We went in. (in modifies where she went) |
We gave in. |
He walked behind. (behind modifies where he fell) |
He fell behind.
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Grammar Notes
Resources
(under revision 1/19/12)
Tradtional grammar refers to these words as adverbs because a preposition must have an object. However, historically, many of these words did. Words beginning with a- are derived from "on" (aboard, aside, aground, aloft, ashore, ahead, away). Other words ending with -hill, -stage, -stairs, -doors, -foot, -head are also derived from nouns. The ending -ward appears to come from Middle English or Old English -weard towards (a cognate with German -wärts; akin to Latin vertere to turn) |
Huddleston and Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, place adverbs are grouped with prepositions because "they seem much less related to the verb and more like a preposition. A preposition can occur as a stand alone word (see the above examples) or be complemented by a noun (an object) or a gerund." (CaGEL 612-23) |
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Resources / Bibliography of works cited
Practice 1
Similar but different in meaning
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Practice 2
Earthquake
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