Into vs. In To
IntoThe preposition into has many definitions that all relate to direction. He walked into the candy cane forest, Santa logged into his email…you get the idea.In toThe word in can be an adverb,...
Beside vs. Besides
Let's keep it simple:Beside means next to. Besides means also or in addition to.One is just a preposition and one is a preposition and an adverb. Can you guess which one is just a preposition?...
Because vs. Since
Because we stopped feeding dog food to our pet turtle, he's much livelier.Since we stopped feeding dog food to our pet turtle, he's much livelier.Which one's right?Answer? Both. But here's the thin...
Except vs. Except For
"Except" in general doesn't behave predictably, but we'll do our best in explaining this.Except for and except are both just different ways of saying with the exception of. Easy peasy.But wait—th...
Try and vs. Try to
"Why is this section even here? None of these words are prepositions." Thank you—that's exactly what we're saying. Astute, Shmooper. Very astute.People usually think that "to" is always a preposi...
About vs. On
Are you writing a paper about panda bears or on panda bears? Technically, either one's right, but we suggest using about, just to get into the habit. After all, what happens when you're writing a p...
Regional Differences in Preposition Use
If you ever find yourself in a heated debate about preposition use, ask the other person where they're from. It's pretty likely there's just a regional difference. Here are a few examples of prepos...
Ending a Sentence in a Preposition
Fun fact: a not-so-long time ago, a bunch of English grammarians decided that Latin was the best language ever. They thought Latin was so cool, in fact, that they tried to make English more like it...