Indicating direction

6.73 The prepositional phrases in the following examples indicate the place that someone or something is going to, or the place that they are moving towards.

I'm going with her to Australia.

They dived into the water.

He saw his mother running towards him.

He screwed the lid tightly onto the top of the jar.

She stuck her knitting needles into a ball of wool.

6.74 The following prepositions are used to indicate destinations and targets:

aboard all over along alongside around

at away from beside down from

inside into near off onto

out of round to toward towards

up

Note that 'onto' is sometimes written as two words:

The bird hopped up on to a higher branch.

In American English and some varieties of British English, 'out' is used as a preposition without 'of' to indicate direction.

Sewing baskets, pots, calabashes, stools, and clothes would be hurled out the door.

The prepositional phrases 'to the left' and 'to the right' are also used to indicate direction, from your own viewpoint or that of someone else. See paragraph 6.76.

USAGE NOTE 6.75 There are some restrictions in the choice of preposition.

'At' is not usually used to indicate the place that the subject of the verb is moving to or towards. It is used to indicate what someone is looking at, or what they cause an object to move towards.

They were staring at a garage roof.

Supporters threw petals at his car.

'After' is used to indicate that someone or something is following another moving person or thing, or is moving in the same direction but behind them.

He hurried after his men.

...dragging the sacks after us along the ground.

direction relative to the front 6.76 You can use the prepositional phrases 'to the left' and 'to the right' to say which direction someone or something is moving in relation to the direction they are facing.

When the light changed they turned to the left and drove away.

several directions 6.77 The prepositions 'about', 'round', 'around', and 'all over' are used to indicate movement in several directions within a place.

I wandered round the orchard.

The old woman jumped around the clearing in front of the children as she acted out her story.

The Rangers began climbing all over the ship.

starting point 6.78 Prepositional phrases can indicate the place or object that is the starting point of a movement.

The following prepositions are used: 'away from', 'from', 'off', and 'out of'.

The coffee was sent up by the caterer from the kitchen below.

She turned and rushed out of the room.

He took his hand off her arm.

'from' before prepositions and adverbs 6.79 'From' can also be used before another preposition or before some adverbs to indicate the starting point of a movement.

I had taken his drinking bowl from beneath the kitchen table.

...goods imported from abroad.

Thomas had stopped bringing his lunch from home.

'From' can be used before the following adverbs:

above abroad anywhere behind

below beneath downstairs elsewhere

everywhere here home inside

next door nowhere outside overseas

somewhere there underneath upstairs