The storm had uprooted trees from the ground.
He took her to Edinburgh.
after verbs indicating activities
6.80 Prepositional phrases are used after verbs indicating activities to specify where an activity takes place.
…children playing in the street.
The meeting was held at a community centre in Logan Heights.
He was practising high jumps in the garden.
6.81 Prepositional phrases usually come at the end of the clause, after the verb, or after the object of the verb if there is one.
We landed at a small airport.
We put the children’s toys in a big box.
at the beginning of a clause: for emphasis or contrast
6.82 If you want to focus on the prepositional phrase for emphasis or contrast, it can be placed at the beginning of the clause. This ordering is mainly used in descriptive writing or reports.
In the garden everything was peaceful.
At the top of the tree was a brown cat.
at the beginning of a clause: verb before subject
6.83 If you put a prepositional phrase that refers to the position of something at the beginning of the clause when you are using a verb with no object, the normal word order after it is often changed, and the verb is placed before the subject.
On the ceiling hung dustpans and brushes.
Inside the box lie the group’s US mining assets.
Beyond them lay the fields.
If you are using be as a main verb, the verb always comes before the subject; so, for example, you cannot say Under her chin a colossal brooch was.
Under her chin was a colossal brooch.
Next to it is a different sign which says simply Beware.
Alongside him will be Mr Mitchell Fromstein.
Showing position
6.84 The prepositional phrases in the following examples show the place where an action occurs, or the place where someone or something is.
The children shouted, waving leafy branches above their heads.
The whole play takes place at a beach club.
Two minutes later we were safely inside the taxi.
He stood near the door.
She kept his picture on her bedside table.
prepositions showing position
6.85 The following prepositions are used to show position:
aboard
about
above
across
against
ahead of
all over
along
alongside
amidst
among
around
astride
at
away from
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
between
beyond
by
close by
close to
down
in
in between
in front of
inside
near
near to
next to
off
on
on top of
opposite
out of
outside
past
through
under
underneath
up
upon
with
within
6.86 Some prepositions are only used with a restricted group of nouns.
For example, aboard is used with a noun referring to a form of transport, such as ship, plane, train, or bus, or with the name of a particular ship, the flight number for a particular plane journey, and so on.
There’s something terribly wrong aboard this ship, Dr Marlowe.
More than 1500 people died aboard the Titanic.
…getting aboard that flight to Rome.
He climbed aboard a truck.
Here is a list of nouns that you use with aboard to indicate position:
aircraft carrier
boat
bus
coach
ferry
jet
plane
rocket
ship
sled (American)
sledge
space shuttle
train
trawler
truck
wagon
yacht
Astride is mainly used to say that a person has one leg on each side of something, usually sitting on it or riding it.
He whipped out a chair and sat astride it.
He spotted a man sitting astride a horse.
When before is used to show position, the object is usually a person or group of people.
Leading representatives were interviewed before a live television audience.
He appeared before a disciplinary committee.
All over usually has a large or indefinite area as its object.
Through the site, thousands of people all over the world are being reunited with old friends.
There were pieces of ship all over the place.
6.87 Some prepositions have several meanings. For example, on can be used to say that someone or something is resting on a horizontal surface or is attached to something, or that someone’s place of work is an area such as a farm or a building site.
The phone was on the floor in the hallway.
I lowered myself down on a rope.
My father worked on a farm.
prepositions with comparative forms
6.88 Near, near to, and close to have comparative forms that can also be used as prepositions.
We’re moving nearer my parents.
Venus is much nearer to the Sun than the Earth.
The judge’s bench was closer to me than Ruchell’s chair.
more specific position
6.89 If you want to say more exactly which part of the other thing an object is nearest to, or exactly which part of an area or room it is in, you can use one of the following prepositions: at, by, in, near, on, round. To and towards, usually used to indicate direction, are used to express position in a more approximate way.
The objects of the prepositions are nouns referring to parts of an object or place, such as top, bottom, and edge. Here is a list of words that are used to talk about parts of an object or place:
back
bottom
edge
end