[Jill Malcolm]

I am editing a book at the moment the following point keeps coming up.

The construction of a sentence and the impact of its meaning can often rely on where the preposition is placed.

Prepositions are words like at, for, in, off, on, over, and under. These common prepositions can be used to describe a location, time or place.

 

Here are some examples:

He sat on the chair.

There is some milk in the fridge.

She was hiding under the table.

The cat jumped off the counter.

She lost her ring at the beach.

The book belongs to Anthony.

They were sitting by the tree.

 

Following are two examples of different sentence construction brought about by putting the preposition in a different place. Each has a slightly different emphasis.

 

• He drove over the bridge without due care.

 

• Without due care he drove over the bridge.

 

• He drove, without due care, over the bridge.

 

• Over the bridge he drove, without due care.

 

• There is some milk inthe fridge.

 

• In the fridge is some milk.

 

• Some milk is in the fridge.

 

Just be aware of different constructions in your writing so that you can vary them. Have some fun with changing your sentences around and see if they improve.

 

 

 

[Tina Shaw]

Some good points here, Jill. Interesting to see the difference in meaning that can result from the placement of the preposition. It also reminds me of active/passive sentence usage, which can make a big difference to how lively our writing sounds.

[Jill Malcolm]

Hi Tina,

Thank you for your reply, and for highlighting the active passive thing.   Getting grip on active and passive is one of  of the most important aspects of writing well …. among all the others!

[Robyn Welsh]

This is really interesting.  Another one that crops up incorrectly is the use of “over” , when the correct word should be “more than”.  For example:   “The eyewitness reported over a dozen people watching the scene unfold.”     When it should be referenced as “more than a dozen people”.    I’ve seen “over” used incorrectly so often that I’m wondering if I’m just so old-school I’m out-of-date.   Totally “over the hill” rather than “more than”.

[Jill Malcolm]

Hi Robyn. I’m sorry for the delayed reply . I hadn’t  thought about the ‘over’ question but you are quite right.  I think clarity demands that ‘More than’  should be used for numbers . Makes sense!!

[Jill Malcolm]

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