English Prepositions Explained

This completely revised and expanded edition of English Prepositions Explained (EPE), originally published in 1998, covers approximately 100 simple, compound, and phrasal English prepositions of space and time – with the focus being on short prepositions such as at, by, in, and on. Its target readership includes teachers of ESOL, pre-service translators and interpreters, undergraduates in English linguistics programs, studious advanced learners and users of English, and anyone who is inquisitive about the English language. The overall aim is to explain how and why meaning changes when one preposition is swapped for another in the same context. While retaining most of the structure of the original, this edition says more about more prepositions. It includes many more figures – virtually all new. The exposition draws on recent research, and is substantially founded on evidence from digitalized corpora, including frequency data. EPE gives information and insights that will not be found in dictionaries and grammar handbooks.

Table of Contents:
1. Acknowledgements; 2. Preface to the second edition; 3. Symbols, abbreviations and features of format; 4. Chapter 1 Introduction and orientation; 5. Chapter 2 Toward(s), to, in/into, inward, outward, through, out (of), from (vs off), away (from); 6. Chapter 3 On1, off, on2: On the in-/outside, on top (of), back, forward, ahead, to/ on the right/left (of), off, away, along, out, toward(s), about, around, concerning, under, upon, on the back of; 7. Chapter 4 In, on1, out, into: During, inside, within; 8. Chapter 5 Beside, along, against, alongside, aside: To/on the right/left (of); 9. Chapter 6 Between, among(st): In between, amid(st), in the midst (of), in the middle (of), inter-; 10. Chapter 7 Across (from), opposite (from), on the other side (of), beyond: Behind, over, at the other end (of); 11. Chapter 8 Behind, on the other side (of), in back (of), in front (of): Before, after, ahead of, in the front/back (of); 12. Chapter 9 Above, over: Across, through, via, during, throughout; 13. Chapter 10 Around/Round, by, past: Over, all around, all over, all across, about, on, roundabout; 14. Chapter 11 By, near, past: Near to, nearby, close (to), next to, around; 15. Chapter 12 Under, below: Beneath, underneath, at/on the bottom (of), in; 16. Chapter 13 Back, backward(s): On2, forward, ahead; 17. Chapter 14 At: In, on1, to, toward(s), by, near, with; 18. Chapter 15 Against: Near, by, on1, into, at; 19. Chapter 16 Up, down: Off, out; 20. Chapter 17 Of: Off, with, at, in, about, from..; 21. Chapter 18 With: For, to, without, together, apart (from); 22. Chapter 19 For: To, of; 23. Chapter 20 To: With, for, against; 24. Chapter 21 Survey and Index of important abstract notions expressed by prepositions; 25. References; 26. Glossary; 27. General index

Review :
The book really does give unified, coherent explanations of the uses of prepositions, and shows that these uses are mostly less 'quirky' than is usually believed. [...] A unique book, and essential reading for teachers and advanced learners. A very fine piece of work that is going to do us all a lot of good. [...] EPE is a useful manual for teachers and advanced students of English as a second language not only to learn, but also to understand the use of English prepositions, both in their direct, physical sense and in metaphorical, idiomatic collocations. Lindstromberg has explained English prepositions to me. This really is an interesting and well-written book and very useful [...]. Prepositions are notoriously difficult to learn…and to teach. In writing this book, Seth Lindstromberg has demonstrated sensitivity to the challenges that prepositions present to both learners and teachers. Using examples from corpora and drawing on cognitive linguistics, he has compiled a very helpful inventory of 70 common prepositions, explaining the ‘basic’ meanings and usages of each. I liked the first edition. This one is even better. English Prepositions Explained is a very honest and practical book which achieves what it sets out to do without any pretensions to solving all the problems in the field of prepositional usage in English. [...] For someone like myself who has taught ESL, reading this book is like having someone fit the pieces of a puzzle together before your eyes. [...] English Prepositions Explained is a very helpful tool for both teachers and students of English. Lindstromberg's book is an excellent thorough and coherent account of prepositional meaning in English. Readers [...] will be rewarded with a profound global insight into not only the meanings and usages of the most frequent prepositions in English, but also with means to unlock the meaning(s) of English idioms in which prepositions occur.