I. PREPOSITION AND ADVERB USES
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: In addition ~ the uses shown below, '~' is used in phrasal verbs such as ‘see ~’ and ‘come ~’. It is also used with some verbs that have two objects in order ~ introduce the second object.
1.
You use ~ when indicating the place that someone or something visits, moves ~wards, or points at.
Two friends and I drove ~ Florida during college spring break...
...a five-day road and rail journey ~ Peking...
She went ~ the window and looked out...
He pointed ~ a chair, signalling for her ~ sit.
PREP
2.
If you go ~ an event, you go where it is taking place.
We went ~ a party at the leisure centre...
He came ~ dinner...
PREP
3.
If something is attached ~ something larger or fixed ~ it, the two things are joined ~gether.
There was a piece of cloth tied ~ the dog’s collar...
Scrape off all the meat juices stuck ~ the bot~m of the pan.
PREP
4.
You use ~ when indicating the position of something. For example, if something is ~ your left, it is nearer your left side than your right side.
Hemingway’s studio is ~ the right...
Atlanta was only an hour’s drive ~ the north.
PREP
5.
When you give something ~ someone, they receive it.
He picked up the knife and gave it ~ me...
Firms should be allowed ~ offer jobs ~ the long-term unemployed at a lower wage.
PREP: v n PREP n
6.
You use ~ ~ indicate who or what an action or a feeling is directed ~wards.
Marcus has been most unkind ~ me ~day...
I have had ~ pay for repairs ~ the house.
PREP: adj/n PREP n
7.
You use ~ with certain nouns and adjectives ~ show that a following noun is related ~ them.
He is a witty man, and an inspiration ~ all of us...
Marriage is not the answer ~ everything...
PREP: adj/n PREP n
8.
If you say something ~ someone, you want that person ~ listen and understand what you are saying.
I’m going ~ have ~ explain ~ them that I can’t pay them.
PREP
9.
You use ~ when indicating someone’s reaction ~ something or their feelings about a situation or event. For example, if you say that something happens ~ someone’s surprise you mean that they are surprised when it happens.
He survived, ~ the amazement of surgeons.
PREP
10.
You use ~ when indicating the person whose opinion you are stating.
It was clear ~ me that he respected his boss...
Everyone seemed ~ her ~ be amazingly kind.
PREP
11.
You use ~ when indicating what something or someone is becoming, or the state or situation that they are progressing ~wards.
The shouts changed ~ screams of terror.
...an old ranch house that has been converted ~ a nature centre.
PREP
12.
To can be used as a way of introducing the person or organization you are employed by, when you perform some service for them.
Rickman worked as a dresser ~ Nigel Hawthorne...
He was an official interpreter ~ the government of Nepal.
PREP: n PREP n
13.
You use ~ ~ indicate that something happens until the time or amount mentioned is reached.
From 1977 ~ 1985 the United States gross national product grew 21 percent...
The annual rate of inflation in Britain has risen ~ its highest level for eight years.
PREP
14.
You use ~ when indicating the last thing in a range of things, usually when you are giving two extreme examples of something.
I read everything from fiction ~ his~ry.
PREP: from n PREP n
15.
If someone goes from place ~ place or from job ~ job, they go ~ several places, or work in several jobs, and spend only a short time in each one.
Larry and Andy had drifted from place ~ place, worked at this and that.
PREP: from n PREP n
16.
If someone moves ~ and fro, they move repeatedly from one place ~ another and back again, or from side ~ side.
She s~od up and began ~ pace ~ and fro...
PHRASE: PHR after v
17.
You use ~ when you are stating a time which is less than thirty minutes before an hour. For example, if it is ‘five ~ eight’, it is five minutes before eight o’clock.
At twenty ~ six I was waiting by the entrance ~ the station...
At exactly five minutes ~ nine, Ann left her car and entered the building.
PREP: num/n PREP num
18.
You use ~ when giving ratios and rates.
...engines that can run at 60 miles ~ the gallon.
PREP: amount PREP amount
19.
You use ~ when indicating that two things happen at the same time. For example, if something is done ~ music, it is done at the same time as music is being played.
Romeo left the stage, ~ enthusiastic applause...
Amy woke up ~ the sound of her doorbell ringing...
PREP
20.
If you say ‘There’s nothing ~ it’, ‘There’s not much ~ it’, or ‘That’s all there is ~ it’, you are emphasizing how simple you think something is.
Once they have tried growing orchids, they will see there is really nothing ~ it.
CONVENTION emphasis
21.
If you push or shut a door ~, you close it but may not shut it completely.
He slipped out, pulling the door ~.
ADV: ADV after v
22.
see also according ~
II. USED BEFORE THE BASE FORM OF A VERB
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
You use ~ before the base form of a verb ~ form the ~-infinitive. You use the ~-infinitive after certain verbs, nouns, and adjectives, and after words such as ‘how’, ‘which’, and ‘where’.
The management wanted ~ know what I was doing there...
She ~ld ministers of her decision ~ resign...
~ inf
2.
You use ~ before the base form of a verb ~ indicate the purpose or intention of an action.
...using the experience of big companies ~ help small businesses...
He was doing this ~ make me more relaxed...
= in order ~
in order ~: see order
~ inf
3.
You use ~ before the base form of a verb when you are commenting on a statement that you are making, for example when saying that you are being honest or brief, or that you are summing up or giving an example.
I’m disappointed, ~ be honest...
Well, ~ sum up, what is the message that you are trying ~ get across?
~ inf
4.
You use ~ before the base form of a verb when indicating what situation follows a particular action.
From the garden you walk down ~ discover a large and beautiful lake...
He awoke ~ find Charlie standing near the bed.
~ inf
5.
You use ~ with ‘~o’ and ‘enough’ in expressions like ~o much ~ and old enough ~; see ~o and enough .