Prepositions and idioms n: noun o: object, g: gerund Examples
With verbs other
Preposition – followed by
(i) a noun
(ii) something playing
the role of a noun.
(a) Gerunds
(b) substantive
clauses
From
(a) The SEC prohibits folks
with inside information
about a company from
trading that company’s
stocks and options.
(b) The state senator strove
to distinguish his party’s
O
nuanced position on
immigration from what :g
the controversial fringe
group advocates.
(a) Special &/or literal
separation
isolate from
separate from
descend from
(b) Conceptual separation
differ from
prevent A from B: to
prevent someone from
talking
prohibit A from B: to
prohibit citizens of one
state from suing a
another state
(c) Choose from (0:
available options)
Congress balked when
President Reagan chose
Robert Bork from all
available federal judges.
(a) Spacial relationships : “to”, “from” : used
for approach and receding, from A to B,
both literally and figuratively.
General Sherman marched from Atlanta
to Savannah, destroying everything along
the way.
Whereas a modern American feast is said
to go “from soup to nuts”, an ancient
Roman banquet went ab ovo usque ad
pomo ("from the egg to the apple").
Sviatoslav Richter's repertoire ranged
from works by eighteenth century
Baroque composers, such as Bach and
Handel, to contemporary compositions,
by Soviet composers such as Shostakovich
and Prokofiev, some of whose works
Richter premiered.
(b) Difference
Different from: Few can say whether a
chaconne is truly different from a
passacaglia.
Sometimes a root word retains the
same idiom as it changes from one
grammatical form to another.
differ in: not describing the two
parties who differ, but rather the field
or discipline in which they differ
Representative Hostettler and
Representative Frank differ in their
position on gay marriage.
difference between: indicates the
parties that differ
Ethicists ordinarily underscore the
difference between “white lies’,
designed to protect the feelings of
others, and lies of malice motivated by
venal self-interest.
difference in, difference with respect
to: describe the subject or field of the
difference
The president and prime minister have no
difference in standing on the proposed
trade bill.
Since the Senator’s reelection, political
commentators have remarked on subtle
differences with respect to his portrayal of
the tax reform.

either one of these latter can be

combined with the “between” idiom
The difference in hitting technique
between Babe Ruth and Ted Williams is
the subject of endless debate.
Between the original 1937 movie and the
current remake, critics have noted
differences with respect to the murderer’s
motivations.