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Hi, I'm Kasia.
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Welcome to Oxford Online English!
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In this lesson, you can learn about prepositions of place in English.
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You can see how to use several different prepositions and prepositional phrases to say where something
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is.
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In this video, we won't go into detail on the prepositions 'at', 'on' and 'in'.
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We'll make a separate video for these three, because that's a big topic by itself.
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Maybe we've already published the video – check our channel to see if it's there!
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Before we start, don't forget to visit our website: Oxford Online English dot com.
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You can see all our free English lessons, and also book classes with one of our professional
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teachers, in case you need extra help with your English.
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Also, don't forget to turn on subtitles!
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This video has subtitles in English, and possibly in other languages, too.
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Click 'CC' in the bottom right corner of your video player now.
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Ready to start?
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Let's see how to use prepositions of place in English.
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The egg is in the bowl.
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Or, the egg is inside the bowl.
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The egg is on top of the bowl.
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'In' and 'inside' generally have the same meaning.
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If you can choose, then it's better to use 'in'.
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Use 'inside' when you want to emphasise that something is surrounded on all sides
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For example, Inside an egg, you can find two parts: the
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white and the yolk The egg is in front of the bowl.
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The egg is behind the bowl.
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The egg is on the left of the bowl The egg is on the right of the bowl.
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You can also say 'to the left' or 'to the right'.
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There's no difference in meaning The egg is next to the bowl.
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The egg is near the bowl.
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'Next to' and 'near' are similar, but not the same.
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'Next to' is more precise.
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If you say 'The egg is next to the bowl', you mean that there isn't much space between
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the bowl and the egg.
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They're very close to each other.
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'Near' is less precise.
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If you say 'The egg is near the bowl', you mean that there isn't a lot of distance
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between the bowl and the egg, but it doesn't tell you exactly how close they are.
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You can also use 'beside' and 'by', which are similar to 'next to'.
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'Next to' is more common in most situations.
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So, you can say 'The egg is next to the bowl'.
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Or, the egg is beside the bowl.
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Or, the egg is by the bowl.
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All three have the same meaning, although in practice, you would probably always use
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'next to'.
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If you're not sure, use 'next to'!
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What about 'near'?
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'Near' could mean closer, or further away.
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'The egg is near the bowl' could mean that the egg is in many different positions.
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The egg is between the bowls.
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The egg is among the bowls.
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'Between' and 'among' both have the meaning of 'in the middle of' or 'surrounded
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by' 'Between' is more specific.
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'Between' means in the middle of *two* things.
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'Among' means in the middle of many things.
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He's holding the egg over the bowl.
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He's holding the egg above the bowl.
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He's holding the egg under the bowl.
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He's holding the egg below the bowl.
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'Over' and 'above' are similar as prepositions of place.
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Often, you can use either preposition, and the meaning is the same.
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Be careful; if you're talking about *movement*, then 'over' and 'above' are different.
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'Over' and 'under' are opposites.
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'Above' and 'below' are opposites.
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Like 'over' and 'above', 'under' and 'below' are often the same.
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'Often' the same?
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So, when are they different?
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There's one important difference.
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If something completely covers something else, you can only use 'over' and 'under'.
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He put the bowl over the egg.
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The egg is under the bowl.
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You need to use 'over' and 'under' because the bowl covers the egg completely.
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The bowls are opposite each other.
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Use 'opposite' when two things are on different sides of something else.
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For example, if you're sitting at a table, and I'm sitting on the other side, facing
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you, then we're sitting *opposite* each other.
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You can also say 'across from', which is more conversational but has the same meaning.
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That's the end of the lesson.
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Thanks for watching!