by Phil Williams | Nov 10, 2016 | Exercises, Prepositions, Reading Exercise
Below are the (slightly edited) opening paragraphs of the epic, classic novel Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville. Published in 1851, this story is studied in schools as one of the Great American Novels, and its opening line, “Call me Ishmael” is one of the most famous in...
by Phil Williams | Feb 4, 2016 | Grammar, Prepositions, Words
How can we define the rules for placing a preposition in a sentence? Before a noun? After a verb? One of the additions to the second edition of Word Order in English Sentences is a guide to prepositions. Though they are often connected to other parts of a sentence,...
by Phil Williams | Nov 10, 2015 | Prepositions
What is the difference between She smiled at him. and She smiled to him.? Sometimes, there is none. Other times, one might clearly be correct (or incorrect). It’s useful to look at individual examples of preposition use like this with examples and explanations to get...
by Phil Williams | Mar 26, 2015 | Definitions, Prepositions, Vocabulary
Certain prepositions like from, out of and among may be interchangeable in certain contexts, in this comparison with all essentially meaning chosen from a group. For example, these three sentences essentially mean the same thing: I had to choose which I liked best...
by Phil Williams | Sep 23, 2014 | Definitions, Grammar, Prepositions
Depending on the object, you can “agree with”, “agree on”, “agree about” or “agree to” something. All of these prepositions can be connected to a noun, so it’s the nature of the object that decides the appropriate...