LANGUAGE AND USE
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English Prepositions 2
OUT /OUT OF
English Prepositions 2
OUT /OUT OF
- OUT is a really versatile preposition when it is used as a prefix to a verb. It indicates superiority, inferiority or some other kind of comparison. The resulting out-verb saves us many words in a sentence.
e.g. She outlived him by only two months (she lived only two months longer than he did)
The girls outnumbered the boys.
The soldiers were outgunned by their enemies (had heavier weapons). -
OUT is used meaning end.
e.g. Before the day is out. (before the end of the day).
-
OUT also means hard to reach.
e.g. The supermarket is out of the way. -
We use OUT OF to say what causes a person to do something.
e.g. She told him the truth out of pure spite. -
If we are OUT OF something we no longer have it.
e.g. We will have to go to the grocer’s; we are out of eggs and butter. -
OUT OF refers to the material with which something is made.
e.g. You can make sculpture out of chalk. -
We can use OUT OF to indicate proportion.
e.g. Four out of ten people are suffering from flu at this time of the year.
-
ON indicates some kind of contact,
1. on top of
e.g. The cup is on the bedside table .
2. upside-down arrangement.
e.g. Watch out! There’s a huge spider on the ceiling.
3. at an angle.
e.g. He wore a flower on his tuxedo. -
ON is little by little replacing UPON in phrases which refer to rivers which have some kind of contact with towns.
e.g. Stratford on Avon. -
UPON used to be more emphatic or formal as in:
e.g. It depends upon her.
Nowadays “It depends on her” is perfectly all right. - UPON has been retained when telling a children’s story in “Once upon a time…”.
-
Use ON for specific days.
e.g. On July 28th / On Monday / On Christmas Day. -
We use ON to indicate a temporary condition.
e.g. The truck is on fire.
Teachers are on strike.
She is on sick leave.
-
ON is used as short for on the staff of in the newspaper business:
e.g. They are both working on “The Sunday News”. -
We introduce the subject of brain work by ON, notice we could also use ABOUT in all the following examples:
e.g. The Doctor gave a talk on swine flu.
He needs information on first aid.
She is writing an essay on the pros and cons of being a single parent. -
If we want to indicate that something took place immediately after something else we use ON.
e.g. He set the alarm on reaching the shelter. -
We use ON when we refer to the idea of sustaining life, either with food or money.
e.g. She lives on her salary.
They survived on roots and wild berries.
-
FOR is used to refer to destination:
e.g. I’m leaving for Brazil in two hours.
The yacht is bound for the Caribbean.
The Airbus is taking off for Indonesia .
However, we should use TO when we want to make emphasis on the fact that there was movement from one place to another rather than on destination.
e.g. The “White Princess” sails to Corfu once every two days.
This bus goes all the way to Rome. -
FOR is also used to refer to distance.
e.g. The party walked for two miles before they found a small hotel.
The people in this group walked without knowing how far they would go.
We can also refer to distance without making use of FOR.
e.g. I run two kilometers every day.
Here our protagonist knows how far she will go every day and that is why she does not use FOR in her sentence. -
Use FOR when you refer to a period of time (and you can even add this phrase to the sentence) and you use verbs such as BE, STAY and LIVED; never SPEND, with which you need no preposition.
e.g. They stayed there for three years.
He lived in Mexico for two months.
She was at the bank for three hours.
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