At, in; in, into; on, onto

A at and in

(For arrive at/in,see 93 B.) at

We can be athome, atwork, atthe office, at school, atuniversity, atan address, at a certain point e.g. atthe bridge, at the crossroads, atthe bus-stop.

In

We can be in a country, a town, a village, a square, a street, a room,

a forest, a wood, a field, a desert or any place which has boundaries or

is enclosed.

But a small area such as a square, a street, a room, a field might be

used with atwhen we mean 'at this point' rather than 'inside'.

We can be in or at a building, inmeans inside only; atcould mean

inside or in the grounds or just outside. If someone is 'at the station' he

could be in the street outside, or in the ticket office/waiting room/

restaurant or on the platform.

We can be inor atthe sea, a river, lake, swimming pool etc.

in here means actually in the water:

The children are swimming in the river.

at the sea/river/lakeetc. means 'near/beside the sea'. But at seameans 'on a ship'.

B in and into

in as shown above normally indicates position. intoindicates movement, entrance:

They climbed into the lorry. I poured the beer into a tankard.

Thieves broke into my house/My house was broken into.

with the verb put,however, either inor intocan be used:

He put his hands in/into his pockets. incan also be an adverb:

Come in = Enter. Get in (into the car).

C on and onto

oncan be used for both position and movement:

He was sitting on his case. Snow fell on the hills.

His name is on the door. He went on board ship.

ontocan be used (chiefly of people and animals) when there is movement involving a change of level:

People climbed onto their roofs. We lifted him onto the table.

The cat jumped onto the mantelpiece. on can also be an adverb:

Go on. Come on.

Above, over, under, below, beneath etc.

A aboveand over

above(preposition and adverb) and over(preposition) can both mean 'higher than' and sometimes either can be used:

The helicopter hovered above/over us.

Flags waved above/over our heads.

But overcan also mean 'covering', 'on the other side of, 'across' and 'from one side to the other':

We put a rug over him.

He lives over the mountains.

There is a bridge over the river. all over+ noun/pronoun can mean 'in every part of:

He has friends all over the world. abovecan have none of these meanings.

overcan mean 'more than' or 'higher than'.

abovecan mean 'higher than' only.

Both can mean 'higher in rank'. But He is over me would normally mean

'He is my immediate superior', 'He supervises my work', abovewould

not necessarily have this meaning.

If we have a bridge over a river, above the bridge means 'upstream'.

overcan be used with meals/food/drink:

They had a chat over a cup of tea. (while drinking tea) In the combination take+ a time expression + over+ noun/pronoun, overcan mean 'to do/finish' etc.:

He doesn't take long over lunch/to eat his lunch.

He took ages over the job. (He took ages to finish it.)

abovecan also be an adjective or adverb meaning 'earlier' (in a book,

article etc.):

the above address (the previously mentioned address) see B above (the previously mentioned section B)

B belowand under

below(preposition and adverb) and under(preposition) can both mean 'lower than' and sometimes either can be used. But undercan indicate contact:

She put the letter under her pillow.

The ice crackled under his feet. With belowthere is usually a space between the two surfaces:

They live below us. (We live on the fourth floor and they live on

the third.)

Similarly: We live above them. (See A above.)

belowand undercan mean 'junior in rank'. But He is under me implies that I am his immediate superior, belowdoes not necessarily have this meaning. (Both overand undercan be used as adverbs, but with a change of

meaning.) C beneathcan sometimes be used instead of under,but it is safer to

keep it for abstract meanings:

He would think it beneath him to tell a lie. (unworthy of him) She married beneath her. (into a lower social class)

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 819