I. POSITIONS AND STATES
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
Note: In addition to the uses shown below, '~' is used in phrasal verbs such as ‘grow ~’ and ‘take ~’.
1.
When people or things are ~, they are some distance from each other.
He was standing a bit ~ from the rest of us, watching us...
Ray and sister Renee lived just 25 miles ~ from each other.
...regions that were too far ~ to have any way of knowing about each other...
ADV: ADV after v, oft ADV from n
2.
If two people or things move ~ or are pulled ~, they move away from each other.
John and Isabelle moved ~, back into the sun...
He tried in vain to keep the two dogs ~ before the neighbour intervened.
ADV: ADV after v
3.
If two people are ~, they are no longer living together or spending time together, either permanently or just for a short time.
It was the first time Jane and I had been ~ for more than a few days...
Mum and Dad live ~.
ADV: be ADV, ADV after v
4.
If you take something ~, you separate it into the pieces that it is made of. If it comes or falls ~, its parts separate from each other.
When the clock stopped he took it ~ to find out what was wrong...
Many school buildings are unsafe, and some are falling ~.
ADV: ADV after v
5.
If something such as an organization or relationship falls ~, or if something tears it ~, it can no longer continue because it has serious difficulties.
Any manager knows that his company will start falling ~ if his attention wanders...
ADV: ADV after v
6.
If something sets someone or something ~, it makes them different from other people or things.
What really sets Mr Thaksin ~ is that he comes from northern Thailand...
ADV: ADV after v, n ADV
7.
If people or groups are a long way ~ on a particular topic or issue, they have completely different views and disagree about it.
Their concept of a performance and our concept were miles ~.
ADJ: v-link amount ADJ, oft ADJ on n
8.
If you can’t tell two people or things ~, they look exactly the same to you.
I can still only tell Mark and Dave ~ by the colour of their shoes!
PHRASE: V inflects, usu with brd-neg
II. INDICATING EXCEPTIONS AND FOCUSING
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
You use ~ from when you are making an exception to a general statement.
She was the only British competitor ~ from Richard Meade.
PREP-PHRASE
2.
You use ~ when you are making an exception to a general statement.
This was, New York ~, the first American city I had ever been in where people actually lived downtown.
= excepted
ADV: n ADV
3.
You use ~ from to indicate that you are aware of one aspect of a situation, but that you are going to focus on another aspect.
Illiteracy threatens Britain’s industrial performance. But, quite ~ from that, the individual who can’t read or write is unlikely to get a job...
PREP-PHRASE