Prepositions are used to show movement to or from a place.
For example:-
to, through, across
We use to to show movement with the aim of a specific destination.
For example:-
I moved to Germany in 1998.
He's gone to the shops.
We use through to show movement from one side of an enclosed space to the other.
For example:
The train went through the tunnel.
We use across to show movement from one side of a surface or line to another.
For example:
She swam across the river.
More prepositions of movement
She ran... | ||
across | the road. (from one side to the other) | |
along | the road. (The length of the road.) | |
around | the playground. | |
away from | the policeman. | |
back to | the shop. | |
down | the hill. | |
into | the room. | |
off | the stage. | |
onto (on to) | the platform. | |
out of | the theatre. | |
over | the bridge. (from one side of an open space to the other) | |
past | the opening. | |
round | the track. | |
through | the tunnel. | |
to | the door. | |
towards | the bus stop. | |
under | the shelter. | |
up | the hill. |
At and in can also be used as prepositions of movement, but they're used to show the purpose of the movement.
For example:
I threw the paper in the bin.
Let's have dinner at my place.
When used after some verbs, the preposition at also shows the target of an action:
The bowler was sent off for throwing the ball at the umpire, instead of to the batsman.
!Note - a lot of sites say that around and round are the same, but there can be a difference, especially in BrE. If someone says "they were running around", it implies the movement is erratic.
For example: Children tend to run around at school.
In BrE when we use "round" we imply a more definite purpose and a more circular movement.
For example: The athlete ran round the track.