Unit 17: The Location in Space: Position/Place, Direction and

Distance.
The location in space is the source of considerable problems to EFL students.
One major problem is that it is normally expressed through prepositions, whose
usage does not always come aside with Spanish. Students find it very difficult to
establish what preposition to use because they seem to be randomly used and with no
hard and fast rules.
THE IDEA OF SPACE

Lets begin by looking at the idea of space. There are three different semantic
aspects in relation to physical space:

position, normally associated with verbs of location such as be, stay, stand,
etc;

direction, associated with verbs of movement such as come, go, drive, etc;

and distance, which expresses spatial measure.

The interrelation of the three of them is seen in the fact that,

depending on the context and on the verb, they can be elicited by questions with
where:
Where does she live? In London . (location) / miles away. (distance)

Where is she going (to)? To Manchester. (direction).

However, for direction the question includes the preposition to often elliptical

and as far as distance is concerned the specific question word is how far:
How far does she live? Twenty miles away.
THE EXPRESSION OF POSITION

(1) Position can be expressed by adverbs, such as here, there, somewhere,

abroad, etc. But adverbs do not normally cause problems to EFL students.
(2) However, the other frequent way of expressing position, prepositional phrases, is
an important source of confusion for students since the use of prepositions in
English does not come aside with their use in Spanish. Therefore, we are going to
start examining their use in clusters which are frequently problematic.

(a) Lets first analyse at, on and in, because the meanings expressed in English
through these prepositions are expressed in Spanish by a single one: en. The three
of them express location in space, but they are differentiated by the kind of space
they refer to.
i.

At refers to one-dimensional space, that is, to a space thought of as a point:

She was waiting at the bus stop.
The car was stopped at the traffic light.

ii.

In contrast on indicates two-dimensional location, a space presented as a

surface:
There is a poster on the wall.
He has dimples on his face.

iii.

Finally, in refers to three-dimensional spaces, spaces thought of as volumes:

The clothes are in the box.
Sarah is in the living room.

iv.

In spite of those guidelines, problems arise for learners because there

are exceptions.

For example, we say I saw him in the picture, but I saw him on
television.

Furthermore, both at and in are used referring to buildings such as

school, hospital, prison, cinema, etc. At refers to the
institutional aspect of the building whereas in refers to the building as a
physical space and therefore to the concept of being inside. With at no
article is used but in requires it.
John is at school (he is attending classes)
John is in the school (he is inside the school building).

Another source of confusion between in and at refers to territorial

meaning. For territories like continents, countries or large cities at is
preferred, but for towns and villages both are possible depending on
whether they are seen as a point on the map or as a volume:
We live in Europe

They work in London

Tom is in/at Canterbury.

(b) Lets turn to a group of prepositions that express relative position of two or more
objects.

i.

In the first place we are going to focus on the prepositions that indicate a
higher position on a vertical axis: on (top of), over and above.

While on and on top of indicate a direct contiguous relationship,

The pen is on top of the book.

over indicates a vertical proximity without physical contact or covering

the surface completely.
There was a lamp over the table. / He spread a cloth over the table.

Finally, above indicates a higher level in a vertical relationship, and it is

also used in an abstract sense.
The nose is above the mouth.
He is above the average height.

ii.

In a vertical axis too, but to refer to a lower position, English has a

parallel set of prepositions: underneath, under, below and beneath.

Underneath refers to direct physical contact in a lower level

The letter is underneath the book.

while under does not necessarily imply physical contact.

There is a boat under the bridge.

Under the apartment there is a shop, and below there is a basement.

Below refers to the lowest position

It was ten degrees below zero.

and beneath is normally used with an abstract meaning.

She married beneath her.

iii.

Focusing now on the horizontal relationship,

in front of and behind express opposite meanings, but we also need to distinguish
between in front of and opposite, because the latter implies that the things referred to
are facing each other.
The bus stop is behind / in front of / opposite the church.

Other prepositions that indicate a horizontal relationship are between, among, beside
and next to. The difference between among and between consists in that while both
express the relation of an object with the objects that surround it, between refers to
only two surrounding objects, one in each side, whereas among refers to three or more
objects:
The house stands between two farms / among several farms.

The difference between beside and next to is that whereas beside refers to the
horizontal proximity, next to implies proximity but not horizontality:
She was sitting beside/next to me.
THE EXPRESSION OF DIRECTION

(1) Direction is usually expressed through prepositional phrases. The most typical are to, onto and
into, which refer to a goal, and from, off and out of, which refer to a source.
(a) The expression of a goal.
i.

Whereas to indicates direction toward(s) a point,

He drove to the park.

ii.

onto refers to a surface

The ball fell on(to) the floor.

iii.

and into refers to a volume. Nevertheless, nowadays onto and into are frequently
substituted by in and on respectively:
Tom put the letter in(to) his pocket.

iv.

As for the difference between to and toward, to is preferred with a physical meaning
and when the goal is reached whereas toward is more common to indicate direction when
the goal is not reached or to express an abstract meaning.
He turned to the left.
He felt angry towards his brother.
He went to the station and caught the train.
He went toward the station but he turned right in the first corner.

(b) The expression of a source.

i.

Similarly, from is used for one dimensional locations,

The children came back form school.

ii.

off for surfaces and

He fell off the horse.

iii.

out of for volumes.

I took the book out of the bag.

(c) Lets now examine the expression of the direction of an object in relation with another object or
place.
i.

The two main concepts are passage and movement with reference to an axis. The prepositions
that express passage, movement towards and then away from a place, are

past, used to refer to a point,

across, that refers to a surface,

and through, that refers to a volume:

The thief walked past the corner (point), run across the garden (surface) and entered
through the window (volume).
ii.

As far as the movement in reference to an axis is concerned,

up and down contrast in terms of vertical direction,

He ran up/down the hill.

while for a horizontal axis along means from one end to the other. However, up and
down are also used idiomatically to refer to a horizontal axis.
Mary goes walking along the road everyday.
John went up the road to his friends house.

Furthermore, if the movement is in an angle or a curve around is used.

To get to the shop you just have to go around the corner.

iii.

We also need to note that many position prepositions can also express direction when they are
used with verbs of movement:
The thief ran behind the car to hide from the police. (destination)
We had to jump over a ditch. (passage)

(2) Apart from prepositional phrases, direction can also be expressed by

(a) adverbs of place such as here, there, far, indoors, up, etc. when used with verbs of
movement.
(b) But there are especial adverbs of direction, formed with the endings
i.

-wise, such as crabwise or clockwise,

You should stir the soup clockwise.

ii.

and ward(s), very productive in adverbs such as backwards, homewards, etc.

They are already travelling homewards.
THE EXPRESSION OF DISTANCE

(1) Distance is normally expressed by noun phrases,

I can run two miles in ten minutes.
He lives 10 miles away.
(2) It is also expressed by prepositional phrases with for if the distance is not specific:
They walked (for) a few miles.
(3) Finally we should focus on some words that do not express distance formally but involve the
concept of distance.
(a) For example some adverbs used for position and direction
i.

such as far and near, which can be inflected for the comparative:

Her house is far / further than I thought.

ii.

We also need to include adverbs here, that refers to the place where the speaker is, and
there, that refers to a place away from the speaker. They cause problems to Spanish
learners since in Spanish two adverbs refer to the places away from the speaker depending
on how far away they are: ah and all.
The book is not here, it is there by the window.

(b) A similar expression of distance is found in the demonstratives this and that, which also
translate into Spanish as three, este, ese and aquel.
I dont want this book, I want that one.
I dont want this book, I want that one.