TOPIC 17

LOCATION IN SPACE:
POSITION,DIRECTION &
DISTANCE
OVERVIEW
PREPOSITIONS OF PLACE OR SIMPLE POSITION
RELATIVE POSITION OR SIMPLE POSITION
OTHER PLACE RELATIONS
ADVERB AND NOUN PHRASES AS PLACE ADJUNCTS
CO-OCURRENCE RESTRICTIONS ON PLACE ADJUNCTS
Prepositions of PLACE or SIMPLE Position
Most prepositions express POSITION, also adverbs (here, somewhere, everywhere). There is a cause &
effect relationship between the idea of destination & position: I went to the circus, so now I am at the
circus.

POSITIVE POSITIVE NEGATIVE NEGATIVE

Destination Position Destination Position

POINT(at type) to at (away)from away from

* * *

LINE OR on(to) on off off

SURFACE (on
type)

AREA OR in(to) in out off out off

VOLUME ( in
type) x
Prepositions of PLACE or SIMPLE Position
Prepositions NEGATIVE meaning- He´s out of town (he´s not in town)
He´s aways from the office (he´s not in the office).

PREPOSITIONS & PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES of POSITION + STATIVE Verbs BE, LIE,

STAND, LIVE, etc

DESTINATION Verbs, accompany DYNAMIC Verbs GO, MOVE, FLY, etc

PREPOSITIONS to indicate PLACE relate to DIMENSIONAL properties, SUBJECTIVELY or

OBJECTIVELY conceived , of the location concerned.
LINE OR SURFACE Type “ON”

Point type “AT” Mere point in space. No reference to length, width or height, but general. John stood at the
door.

i) Line or Surface Type “ON”Place in terms of length (on a line or surface). On(to), on, off, across, over,
along . The ball rolled onto the ball line. He lives on the road to Bristol. The Balearic Islands are off the
Valencian Coast.

ii)”ON” also as a surface. Length & width are relevant dimensions but NOT
height or depth. On(to), on, off, across, over, through. He fell onto the floor.
There was a pub off the road.
iii) Area or Volume Type: “IN” Surface of an area enclosed or bordered. He walked in the park. We
walked through the woods. -
Place as three-dimensional space; it has volume. The chidren
ran into the school My keys are in my pocket.

INSIDE & OUTSIDE sometimes alternative to in(to) & out of:

The children ran inside the house. WITHIN
more formal than in, often indicates a location bounded by limits or a given distance, within two miles.
 OVERLAP BETWEEN PREPOSITIONS

At/in differentiation is perceptual rather than grammatical. Towns

& villages- at or in He works in Seville / I met him at Seville.

“At Seville” we see the city as a place on a map. “In Seville”

implies Seville as covering an area which contains streets, houses.etc.

Very large cities, continents, countries provinces or other areas “ in” Small
areas: a square, street, room or field, “ at this point” He lives at Pen Street.

At/to “at” takes the place of “to” When the object acts as a target: He threw the stone at me.

On/in overlap between “on-type” & “ in-type”. Difference between surface & volume. The child is on
the grass ( short grass). The child is in the grass (long grass).
 RELATIVE POSITION & SITUATION
Prepositions may express the relative position of two objects or two
groups of objects.
ABOVE / BELOW, OVER/UNDER, ON TOP OF / UNDERNEATH & BENEATH
Express relative position in a vertical direction.

BEHIND/ IN FRONT OF Express relative position in a horizontal direction.

BY & BESIDE mean “at the side of” but are more generally used to point out the proximity of one
object to another.

Some are CONVERSE OPPOSITES Jane is in front of him/ He is behind Jane.

Jane lives above John/ John lives below Jane.
RELATIVE POSITION & SITUATION continuation
-OVER & UNDER, direct vertical relationship and/or spatial proximity, similar meaning to
above and below “on a higher/lower level than”
The castle stands on a hill above (rather than over) the valley. The doctor
and the policeman were leaning over (rather than above) the body.

- UNDERNEATH & BENEATH less common substitutes for under;

BENEATH formal, sometimes used for abstract meanings.

UNDERNEATH like on top of, generally indicates a contiguous relation:
She married beneath her (herself).
RELATIVE POSITION & SITUATION continuation
Others:
- BETWEEN
An object between two others, OR more than two, if we have a definite number in mind or if we are
referring to objects in a linear sense.
- AMONG
it relates an object to more than two others.
- OPPOSITE
it means “facing”.
- (A)ROUND
Surrounding position or motion.
OTHER PLACE RELATIONS
MOTION & PASSAGE

Note the parallel between on and across and between in and

through:

On and across treat the grass as a surface, suggesting short grass.

In and through treat the grass as having volume, suggesting long grass.
MOVEMENT WITH DIRECTION
UP, DOWN, ALONG, ACROSS,(A)ROUND. With reference to an axis or path.
- up and down, vertical axis. Also may be used idiomatically referring to a horizontal axis meaning
along, therefore lacking any vertical implication: I walked up and down the
platform.

- along and across suggest movement following a horizontal axis: They walked up/
down the hill. She ran along/ across the street. The earth moves (a)round the Sun. Go round the
corner and you’ll see the hospital.

- towards indicates both real and implied motion, with the idea of “in the direction of”: We walked
towards the old farmhouse.
OTHER PLACE RELATIONS

REPEATED MOTION Possible by LINKING TWO prepositions with and.

They kept going in and out of the building. The police searched up and down the street.

ORIENTATION Expressing relative position and direction in a static sense of orientation. -Used
with the reference to the speaker’s “point of orientation”, relating to another site. The idea is clearly
expressed with beyond. I could see the city beyond the lake

-Similarly, across, over, through, past, etc. Related to their “passage” or “direction”:
The children are across the sea. I
can see the house through the trees. The
school is down the street.

A “from-phrase” can also express a viewpoint: I work up the street from the church.
OTHER PLACE RELATIONS continuation
RESULTIVE MEANING Prepositions WITH motional meaning also have a static resultative meaning when
combined with the verb “to be”, indicating the state of having reached a destination: The horses are over the fence.
We were finally out of the forest.

PERVASIVE MEANING
Throughout, the only preposition whose primary meaning is pervasive, -Other
prepositions

over combined with all, have either static or motional pervasive meaning The radiation
spread throughout the unprotected walls. Chaos reigned all through
the house. These files are all over the floor.
OTHER PLACE RELATIONS
ABSTRACT PLACE MEANING:

Metaphorical relation to their basic sense.

-IN, OUT OF (condition or inclusion)
You are in danger.
-ABOVE, BELOW, BENEATH (level)
His grades are below average.
-OVER, UNDER (power, surveillance) Manchester City
are moving up the table.
-FROM, TO (giving and receiving) This
gift is from Jane to Harry.
-BETWEEN, AMONG (relations between two or more people) They are
always arguing among themselves.
-PAST, BEYOND (excess)
He’s beyond control (impossible to control him).
OTHER PLACE RELATIONS
DISTANCE Noun phrases of measure modifying a verb of motion, can express distance
He drove a long way. She
stopped only a few yards from the tree.

-They can also precede and modify an adverbial of place

They live a long way away. The
sunken boat lay three hundred feet below the surface.

ONE PREPOSITION> SEVERAL USES 7 uses of OVER

1) Position: There are some grey clouds over the city.
2) Destination: They threw a blanket over her.
3) Passage: She climbed over the fence.
4) Orientation: The police station is over the road (on the far side).
5) Resultative: At last we were over the crest of the hill.
6) Pervasive (static):The children left their toys all over the room.
7) Pervasive (motion): They splashed water all over me.
ADVERB & NOUN PHRASES AS PLACE ADJUNCTS.
CLAUSES, ADVERB PHRASES & NOUN PHRASES are also commonly used

Position: I work in an important factory. The factory is situated where the old mill used to be. The factory is
there. I work a long way from here.
Direction: The burglar ran past the checkpoint. The police followed him wherever he went.

-SIMPLE PREPOSITIONAL ADVERBS adverbs which behave like prepositions but OMIT the
COMPLEMENT - SAME Functions , but not the syntactic status.

A simple prepositional adverb is capable of standing alone as an adjunct, disjunct or

conjunct, without the addition of a prepositional complement.
Most place prepositions correspond in form AND meaning to
prepositional adverbs
 SIMPLE PREPOSITIONAL ADVERBS used for
POSITION & DIRECTION.

Above, along, anywhere, around, away, back, below, by, down, east,
elsewhere, everywhere, far, here, home, in, locally, near, off, opposite, out,
over, past, round,somewhere, there, through, under, up, within.

Adverbs denoting DIRECTION ALONE

aside, backwards, downwards, forwards, inwards, left,outwards,
right, sideways, upwards.
CO-OCURRENCE RESTRICTIONS ON PLACE ADJUNCTS.
POSITIONAL & DIRECTION ADJUNCTS IN THE
SAME CLAUSE
-A Position adjunct follows a direction adjunct in final position:
The children are running around upstairs.

-Position adjunct INITIALLY to avoid end-focus Upstairs, the children are running around.

-Two position adjuncts/ two direction adjuncts, same clause:

At this time of the morning he is either at work or at home. (Not possible when adjuncts are not of the same
kind).
-HIERARCHICAL RELATIONSHIP
 -HIERARCHICAL RELATIONSHIP
- TWO POSITION ADJUNCTS can co-occur : In Manchester most people work in large companies.

- TWO DIRECTION ADJUNCTS in the same sentence: He kept going from Paris to New York
.
- TWO DIRECTION ADJUNCTS JUXTAPOSED follow the order of the events described. The
EARLIER EVENT in INITIAL POSITION He walked down the corridor into the classroom

CLAUSES OF PLACE are introduced by WHERE or WHEREVER

I know where they hid the money. I’ll follow you wherever you go

- NON-FINITE & VERB-LESS clauses, occur with both these subordinators:

Where(ever) seen, such people have been identified.
Where(ever) possible, selective controls should be made.