262. Adverbs that Describe a Preposition

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Various adverbs can add information to a preposition phrase immediately after them

GENERAL ADVERB USAGE

The possibility of an adverb adding to a preposition meaning is hardly ever highlighted in English grammar explanations. Adverbs are typically linked with verbs, adjectives / adverbs (see 194. Adverbs that Say How Much), or entire sentences (see 121. Sentence-Spanning Adverbs). Noun links are sometimes mentioned too (see 313. Adverbs Linked Closely to a Noun). Yet adverbs linked to a preposition are not only possible but common and varied. An example mentioned elsewhere in this blog is well with prepositions like above and beyond, as in well above 100 degrees (see 256. Unusual Meanings of Familiar Words, #2).

This adverb usage is actually not so surprising, given the grammatical role of prepositions. Although they differ from adjectives and adverbs, their standard need for a noun-like partner normally results in phrases with either an adjective or an adverb sentence role (see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #2). Thus, in terms of preposition phrases rather than individual prepositions, adverb use with the preposition is just a variant of the familiar use with simple adjectives and adverbs. This similarity is reflected in the positioning of preposition-linked adverbs: in front just like adverbs before an ordinary adjective or adverb (e.g. easily observable).

This post lists and classifies adverbs that can expand a preposition’s meaning in English. The source is my own observations, there seeming to be very little on the topic in grammar reference books.

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FEATURES OF ADVERB USE WITH A PREPOSITION

Two key observations are that some preposition uses cannot follow the kind of preceding adverb described above, and not every adverb before a preposition is combined with it in the relevant way.

The first of these observations, note, is about “preposition use”, not “prepositions”.  In other words, it is how and where a preposition is used, rather than what it is, that determines its combinability with an adverb. In general, most prepositions seem able to combine with an adverb in the right circumstances.

There are three main preposition uses in English: “natural”, expressing the fundamental meaning of the preposition, as in to the south; collocational, dependent on a neighbouring word, as in pleased with progress; and grammatical, dependent on a particular grammatical structure, as in shown by experience (see 111. Words with a Typical Preposition). It is the first of these uses, the “natural” one, that seems most able to be linked with an adverb in the relevant way.

One adverb use before a preposition that does not make the relevant kind of combination can be illustrated as follows:

(a) Micro-plastics are accumulating rapidly in the oceans.

Here, the adverb rapidly gives information about the preceding verb accumulating rather than the following preposition in. This is perhaps because the movement suggested by rapidly contradicts the static meaning of in. Without such a contradiction, a double meaning might arise (see 301. Structures with a Double Meaning 5, #1).

Another type of use that does not qualify can be illustrated as follows:

(b) Ships long ago would sail close to the shore.

Here, the preposition to is chosen not for its natural meaning of motion approaching somewhere, but as the collocational partner of the adverb close, enabling that word’s meaning to be made more precise by a following noun. In other words, to is adding information about close rather than close adding information about to. The meaning is that ships long ago went along the shore rather than towards it.

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ADVERBS USABLE WITH A PREPOSITION

Adverbs that can combine with a preposition are quite limited in number. Moreover, most individual ones combine with only some prepositions: very few – apart from almost and practically – are usable whatever the preposition. The following are the main adverbs found, along with their typical prepositions.

ALL…
across, above, along, around, by (+-self), outside, over, round, under

ALMOST…
Very widely usable

CLEAN…
through

CLOSE…
after, alongside, behind, beside, by, next to

CLOSELY…
behind, with

COMPLETELY…
Same as for FULLY

DEEP…
below, in, inside, into, under, within

DIRECTLY…
Same as for FAR, plus after, alongside, opposite.

EXACTLY…
above, along, alongside, around, at, behind, below, beside, by, in front of, in line with, like, next to, on, opposite, over, to, towards, under, worth

FAR…
above, across, ahead of, around, away from, before, behind, below, beyond, from, in front of, inside, into, off, out of, outside, over, past, round, to, towards, under, within

FULLY…
Same as for FAR, plus alongside, beside, like, on, with, worth.

HIGH…
above, on, over, to

IMMEDIATELY
Same as DIRECTLY

JUST…
Same as for FAR, plus alongside, at, beside, by, like, next to, on, opposite, since, until, up to, worth

LONG
…after, before, beyond, past, since

MOSTLY/MAINLY…
Same as for FULLY

MUCH… (often after not)
above, across, ahead of, before, behind, below, beyond, in front of, in line with, like, off, out of, over, past, to, towards, under, within

NARROWLY…
ahead of, behind, past, to

PARTLY…
Same as for FULLY

PRACTICALLY…
Very widely usable

QUITE…
like, within

RATHER…
like

RIGHT…
Same as for FAR, plus alongside, at, beside, by, next to, on, opposite, through, until, up to

ROUGHLY…
alongside, at, beside, by, in, like, near, on, to, towards, until, up to, worth

SLIGHTLY…
Same as for FAR, perhaps excepting around. One other is like

SOON…
after, before

SPOT…
on

STRAIGHT…
Same as for FAR

VERY…
(un)like

WAY…
Same as for FAR, excepting around, from

WELL…
Same as for FAR, excepting from. One other is worth

WHOLLY…
Same as for FULLY

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OBSERVATIONS

Because of the variety of the adverbs and the prepositions allowed by each, guidelines on making the right choices seem desirable in order to reduce the need to memorise. There seem to be some clues in the meanings of the adverbs and some in those of the prepositions.

1. Adverb Meanings

An obvious general meaning expressed by many of the adverbs is a greater or lesser degree of their preposition’s meaning, similar to the degrees of meaning that adverbs can also show with adjectives and other adverbs. With some prepositions a degree of distance can be shown, with others a degree of exactness. Adverbs showing the former range from close, just, narrowly and slightly for small distances, through well and much for medium ones, to deep, far, high, long and way for great ones.

Close, a straightforward opposite of far, allows surprisingly fewer prepositions. As well as alongside and by, it allows, among the numerous far prepositions that it might logically be expected to allow, just behind and beside. Note that close with any of these prepositions instead of its “typical” preposition to is a true preposition-describing adverb, not a verb-describing one like in sentence (b).

Straight usually implies a high degree of directness of movement and consequently tends to accompany only prepositions that imply movement. In the list above, although it is linked with the same prepositions as far, the link is actually more with their movement meanings than their position ones. Especially common preposition partners include from, into, out of and to(wards).

Long – closely associated with the idea of time – only accompanies certain prepositions implying a time distance: after, before, beyond, past and since (but not from, up to or until). Soon is similar, but restricted to just after and before.

Adverbs representing a degree of exactness include all, clean, completely, exactly, fully, just, mostly, partly, right, roughly, spot, very and wholly. They tend, to a greater or lesser extent, to be used with positional rather than directional prepositions. For example, all over… means “everywhere in/on” (a meaning also expressible with the less common in/on all [of]…).

Three adverbs in the above lists – spot, clean and way – are unusual in that their only adverb use is with a following preposition. This probably makes their partner prepositions harder to predict. Spot on and clean through are actually idioms: expressing a meaning that is not easily discoverable from the normal meanings of spot and clean and not allowing preposition substitution. They mean “completely” or “exactly”.

Quite before like means “fairly” rather than “wholly”. It is unusual in not being likely with this meaning before any other preposition (something also true of rather and very). Before within (e.g. quite within their rights), it means “wholly”.

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2. Preposition Meanings

The most fundamental meaning types expressed by prepositions described by an adverb are location and movement. The location ones, indeed, are an important feature of locational description (see 295. Options in Saying Where, #3). Many prepositions can express either meaning, thus allowing a wide range of adverbs.

For example, to, which most people would associate with movement, can express position before compass nouns (the north, the south etc.: see 151. Ways of Using Compass Words) and before the left and the right. Thus, far to the right expresses a movement after dived but a position after was situated. Other adverbs that can precede to include completely, directly, exactly, fully, high, just, much, narrowly, partly, right, roughly, slightly, straight, way, well and wholly.

Prepositions indicating a higher or lower location or direction of movement – above, below, beneath, over, under – allow not just ordinary high-degree adverbs like far but also ones reflecting their location: high with above and over, deep with below, beneath and under. The possibility of deep with in, inside, into and within also reflects location: the shared idea of “buried”.

As mentioned above, prepositions that express location much more than movement tend to link with exactness adverbs. They include alongside, beside, by, in, next to, on and opposite. For more on opposite, see 261. Words with Complicated Grammar 3, #4.

Worth implies not position or movement but quantity, another concept that fits easily with degree and exactness adverbs. However, the actual ones that are usable are rather limited: exactly, fully, just, mostly, partly, roughly, well and wholly. For an extensive analysis of worth, see 226. Words with Complicated Grammar 2, #1.

Like also expresses a rather unusual preposition meaning, making its typical adverbs possibly harder to predict. The main ones are exactly, just, mainly, much, mostly, quite, rather, roughly, slightly and very (see 53. “As”, “Like” and “Such As”). The underlined ones can also precede unlike.

With has different meanings that each allow different adverbs. When it means “accompanying” or “supporting”, it allows fully, partly or wholly, but when it means “collaborating” it allows closely instead. Note that when it means “using” it allows no adverb at all because that is a “grammatical” use (see 73. Prepositions for Saying How).

Finally, a notable missing preposition from the list above is despite. I am unable to think of a single adverb apart from almost that it might be associated with. One reason might be that it cannot imply exactness or a degree of meaning in the way that most prepositions can. It may also be a purely “grammatical” preposition.

261. Words with Complicated Grammar 3

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Some words are usable in multiple (and often confusing) grammatical ways

THE PROBLEM OF COMPLICATED GRAMMAR

A major concern of this blog is the kind of grammar that is found not in “grammars”, but in dictionaries. Grammars focus on wide-ranging features like verb tense usage; dictionaries on word-specific requirements like the form of verbs after FACILITATE. Traditionally, these respective kinds of grammatical description tended to be called “grammar” and “usage”; my preferred terms are “broad grammar” and “narrow grammar” (see the rationale for my grammar practice book).

Narrow English grammar has various features that can make it difficult to learn. One is words that behave differently from what might be expected from the behaviour of words like them (see 10. Words with Unexpected Grammar 1 and 250. Synonym Pairs with Contrasting Grammar). Another is words whose grammatical possibilities are so diverse as to be easily confused.

It is this second source of difficulty that the present post is concerned with. As the title indicates, other parts of this blog deal with it too (for a list, see 201. Words with Complicated Grammar 1). The approach is the same: in-depth consideration of the grammatical properties of a small number of problem words. This is a different kind of analysis from that in various Guinlist posts entitled Tricky Word Contrasts, where the emphasis is on meaning rather than grammar.

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PROBLEM WORDS

1. APPLY

This verb has three fairly unrelated meanings. Firstly, there is “be relevant (to)” or “be true (of)”:

(a) Most noun rules also apply to pronouns.

(b) The need to register does not apply.

In (a) apply and to are together like a “prepositional” verb with pronouns as its object. Unlike most prepositional verbs, however, they cannot be made passive. In (b), apply does not need any following words at all (i.e. it is “intransitive” – see 113. Verbs that cannot be Passive).

Secondly, APPLY can mean “seek permission or acceptance by submitting (usually in writing) prescribed information”. Implicit in this concept are the ideas of what is being sought (e.g. a driving licence) and who it is being sought from (e.g. the government). Either or both of these can be left unmentioned when already obvious, but if they need to be mentioned, it is often with prepositions:

(c) It is necessary to apply (FOR a scholarship) (TO the Academic Office).

The fact that apply needs a preposition before any following noun means it is again intransitive. For and to are the usual prepositions for the respective requirements of APPLY. When both are used, either may precede the other. An occasional alternative to for is a to verb (infinitive). For example, for a scholarship in (c) could be replaced by to study at this college.

The third meaning of APPLY resembles that of PUT ON. A following object noun will say what is put on, but it can be left unmentioned if clear from the context (see 8. Object-Dropping Errors); and there is an option of also saying where (after the preposition to):

(d) Apply (the glue) thinly (to both sides).

This ability to have a simple object as well as a preposition + object, but with a change of meaning, exists in a few other verbs besides APPLY (see 44. Troublesome Prepositional Verbs).

The way APPLY differs in meaning from PUT ON is that it cannot link with as wide a range of possible objects. Its objects must usually have the purpose of solving some problem affecting the place of application. Thus, one would probably not use APPLY before a noun like a hat. APPLY is also, as a Latin-derived verb, more formal-sounding than PUT ON (see 108. Formal and Informal Words).

Moreover, this use of APPLY can be metaphorical, with either an abstract noun as object (e.g. attention, effort, energy, force) or a -self word (apply oneself, meaning concentrate on: see 268. Types of “-self” Object, #2). In both cases, the optional partner to phrase will as likely require an -ing verb as a noun (apply oneself to doing something), necessitating care not to use a to verb instead (see 35. Words Followed by “to -ing”). For more on metaphorical meaning, see 7. Reading Obstacles 4.

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2. Advance

This word can be a verb or noun. As a verb it means either “go forward” or “cause to go forward”. With the first meaning it is usually in the active voice without an object noun (e.g. The tanks advance); with the second meaning, it can be active with an object (…advance the tanks) or passive (the tanks are advanced). For more on verbs like this, see 4. Verbs that Don’t Have to be Passive. The object-requiring form can also have the metaphorical meaning of “suggest” (e.g. advance various reasons) or “pay in part before receiving” (e.g. Please advance $500).

A problem with the -ed participle advanced is that there is also an adjective with the same spelling. The two differ in both meaning and positioning. The participle means “moved forward (by someone)” or “suggested (by someone)”, and always goes directly after the noun it describes (the solutions advanced); whereas the adjective means “technically sophisticated” and can either precede its noun (advanced solutions) or follow it with a link verb like BE in between. For further details, see 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending.

As a noun (mostly countable), advance again has different uses. It can mean “early part payment” (e.g. an advance of $500), or “improvement” (e.g. a scientific advance) or “forward movement” (e.g. an advance of 5km). One other common noun meaning is “preceding period”, but this only seems to exist in special phrases like in advance (= “beforehand” – see 164. Fixed Preposition Phrases).

A common confusion is whether one should say advance or advanced meaning “preceding” before nouns like notice, payment, preparations or warning. In fact, the correct form is advance, the noun used with this meaning in in advance. Using advanced is incorrect because, as indicated above, its use before a noun can only mean “technically sophisticated”. The fact that advance is a noun, unlike adjectival advanced, is not a problem, since nouns can “describe” a noun after them just as easily as adjectives can (see 38. Nouns Used like Adjectives).

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3. CONFUSE

This verb has a rare property. Compare:

(e) Its and it’s confuse many learners.

(f) Many learners are confused by its and it’s.

(g) Many learners confuse its and it’s.

Here, (e) and (f) illustrate a normal active/passive contrast, but (g) replaces the passive verb with an active one without changing anything else. As a result, the passive appears never to be necessary: regardless of which noun is subject, the active is always possible.

This situation resembles that with verbs like IMPROVE, as described in these pages in 4. Verbs that Don’t Have to be Passive. However, there is an important difference: both of the active verb uses above need a direct object – a following noun without a preposition before it – whereas verbs like IMPROVE only allow a direct object in one of their active uses, the other requiring either no noun or a preposition + noun:

(h) Practice improves performance.

(i) Performance is improved by practice.

(j) Performance improves (with practice).

A further complication with CONFUSE is that its active and passive forms can both describe either an action or a state. Many verbs express only an action or only a state, or can express either when passive but not active; but verbs expressing either with both forms are relatively rare.

Fortunately, context or surrounding words often clarify whether CONFUSE is expressing an action or a state. For example, a state would be indicated in (e), (f) and (g) if they mentioned a time period like …for a long time.

A state would also be clearly indicated in (f) if the passive are confused was combined with about instead of by. This changes confused from a participle within a multi-word verb to an adjective – a possibility that only expresses a state (see 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending, #1). However, it also slightly changes the meaning, indicating that the starting point of the confused state was vague rather than recent (see 66. Types of Passive Verb Meaning).

About is only usable with the adjective confused – it cannot accompany any form of the verb CONFUSE. Care is needed to avoid such impossibilities as *I confuse about…. (see 303. Confusions of Similar Structures 4, #5).

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4. Opposite

This word is variably a noun, adjective, preposition or adverb. The noun is countable. Opposites are usually contrasting pairs, such as rich/ poor, town/ country and go/ come. Sentences like the following are typical:

(k) Pain is the opposite of pleasure.

(l) Pain and pleasure are opposites.

The singular form needs, like most countable singulars, the or a(n) or similar. However, because opposites are usually unique, the is much more likely (see 235. Special Uses of “the”, #9). Pain in (k), for example, is the usually-accepted opposite of pleasure. The preposition of is the only one that is possible between the opposite and one of the two opposite-naming nouns.

The adjective opposite means the same as the noun, but after BE in a sentence like (k) it would, of course, not have the, and it would also need a following to rather than of (see 203. Expanding an Adjective with Words after it, #1). In sentences like (l), the adjective opposite would not be able to have the final -s.

As a preposition, opposite means “facing”. One might say, for example, that a shop was opposite the station, or that a shop and station were opposite each other. In this use, opposite has no following preposition. However, it resembles the adjective in often following an exactness adverb like directly, exactly or right (see 262. Adverbs that Describe a Preposition).

The adverb use of opposite resembles the preposition one in the way that many other preposition-like adverbs do: it can accompany a verb by itself, without a following noun, e.g. …lived opposite or …was opposite (see 154. Lone Prepositions after BE).