English Prepositions Explained

Revised edition

Seth Lindstromberg | Hilderstone College, UK

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027211736 | EUR 99.00 | USD 149.00

Paperback – Available

ISBN 9789027211743 | EUR 33.00 | USD 49.95

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027287892 | EUR 99.00/33.00*
| USD 149.00/49.95*

This completely revised and expanded edition of English Prepositions Explained (EPE), originally published in 1998, covers approximately 100 simple, compound, and phrasal English prepositions of space and time – with the focus being on short prepositions such as at, by, in, and on. Its target readership includes teachers of ESOL, pre-service translators and interpreters, undergraduates in English linguistics programs, studious advanced learners and users of English, and anyone who is inquisitive about the English language. The overall aim is to explain how and why meaning changes when one preposition is swapped for another in the same context. While retaining most of the structure of the original, this edition says more about more prepositions. It includes many more figures – virtually all new. The exposition draws on recent research, and is substantially founded on evidence from digitalized corpora, including frequency data. EPE gives information and insights that will not be found in dictionaries and grammar handbooks.

This title replaces:
English Prepositions Explained, Seth Lindstromberg (1998)

[Not in series, 157] 2010. xiii, 273 pp.

Publishing status: Available
Published online on 2 August 2010

https://doi.org/10.1075/z.157

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements | p. Ix

Preface to the second edition | p. XI

Symbols, abbreviations and features of format | p. XIII

Chapter 1 Introduction and orientation | pp. 1–28

Chapter 2 Toward(s), to, in/into, inward, outward, through, out (of), from (vs off), away (from) | pp. 29–50

Chapter 3 On1, off, on2: On the in-/outside, on top (of), back, forward, ahead, to/ on the right/left (of), off, away, along, out, toward(s), about, around, concerning, under, upon, on the back of | pp. 51–71

Chapter 4 In, on1, out, into: During, inside, within | pp. 72–80

Chapter 5 Beside, along, against, alongside, aside: To/on the right/left (of) | pp. 81–88

Chapter 6 Between, among(st): In between, amid(st), in the midst (of), in the middle (of), inter- | pp. 89–96

Chapter 7 Across (from), opposite (from), on the other side (of), beyond: Behind, over, at the other end (of) | pp. 97–102

Chapter 8 Behind, on the other side (of), in back (of), in front (of): Before, after, ahead of, in the front/back (of) | pp. 103–108

Chapter 9 Above, over: Across, through, via, during, throughout | pp. 109–132

Chapter 10 Around/Round, by, past: Over, all around, all over, all across, about, on, roundabout | pp. 133–143

Chapter 11 By, near, past: Near to, nearby, close (to), next to, around | pp. 144–155

Chapter 12 Under, below: Beneath, underneath, at/on the bottom (of), in | pp. 156–166

Chapter 13 Back, backward(s): On2, forward, ahead | pp. 167–172

Chapter 14 At: In, on1, to, toward(s), by, near, with | pp. 173–182

Chapter 15 Against: Near, by, on1, into, at | pp. 183–188

Chapter 16 Up, down: Off, out | pp. 189–204

Chapter 17 Of: Off, with, at, in, about, from… | pp. 205–213

Chapter 18 With: For, to, without, together, apart (from) | pp. 214–223

Chapter 19 For: To, of | pp. 224–232

Chapter 20 To: With, for, against | pp. 233–242

Chapter 21 Survey and Index of important abstract notions expressed by prepositions | pp. 243–262

Glossary | pp. 268–270

General index | pp. 271–273

“The book really does give unified, coherent explanations of the uses of prepositions, and shows that these uses are mostly less 'quirky' than is usually believed. [...] A unique book, and essential reading for teachers and advanced learners.”

Jonathan Marks, IATEFL Issues, 2000

“ A very fine piece of work that is going to do us all a lot of good.”

Michael Swan

“[...] EPE is a useful manual for teachers and advanced students of English as a second language not only to learn, but also to understand the use of English prepositions, both in their direct, physical sense and in metaphorical, idiomatic collocations.”

Gabe Bokor, on the Translation Journal, Vol. 15, No. 1 (2011)

“Lindstromberg has explained English prepositions to me. This really is an interesting and well-written book and very useful [...].”

Chris Mares, Orono, USA, English Teaching Professional, 1999

“Prepositions are notoriously difficult to learn…and to teach. In writing this book, Seth Lindstromberg has demonstrated sensitivity to the challenges that prepositions present to both learners and teachers. Using examples from corpora and drawing on cognitive linguistics, he has compiled a very helpful inventory of 70 common prepositions, explaining the ‘basic’ meanings and usages of each. I liked the first edition. This one is even better.”

Diane Larsen-Freeman, University of Michigan

“ English Prepositions Explained is a very honest and practical book which achieves what it sets out to do without any pretensions to solving all the problems in the field of prepositional usage in English. [...] For someone like myself who has taught ESL, reading this book is like having someone fit the pieces of a puzzle together before your eyes. [...] English Prepositions Explained is a very helpful tool for both teachers and students of English.”

Patrick J. Duffy, Université Laval, Canada, in Word 25/1, 2001

“Lindstromberg's book is an excellent thorough and coherent account of prepositional meaning in English. Readers [...] will be rewarded with a profound global insight into not only the meanings and usages of the most frequent prepositions in English, but also with means to unlock the meaning(s) of English idioms in which prepositions occur.”

Birger Andersen, in Hermes, Journal of Language and Communication Studies, No. 46-2011

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