Beside 

How To Use "Beside" in English

'Beside' mainly functions as a preposition. In this lesson, we are going to discuss how to learn and use it.

Functions of 'Beside'

'Beside' as a Preposition

'Beside' mainly functions as a preposition. Below, we are going to analyze the kinds of prepositions it can be:

Use

'Beside' is mainly a preposition of place. Look at the list below to understand all about its various meanings:

When we want to show that something/someone is next to another:

Example

Sit beside the fire and warm yourself.

Stop right there beside your mother.

When we are comparing two things together, we use 'beside':

Example

That commercial book is nothing beside this magical one.

That wooden wand is nothing beside this Horned Serpent.

Position in a Sentence

As you know, prepositions mainly come before nouns and noun phrases to modify them. We can have a prepositional phrase at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the sentence. Look at the following examples for more information:

Example

Beside James, I saw a little girl with fire in her eyes.

Here, we have a prepositional phrase at the beginning of the sentence.

My parents, sitting beside me, glared at me furiously.

As you can see, the prepositional phrase is in the middle of the statement.

Come here beside me.

Here, the prepositional phrase is at the end of the sentence.

Idioms and Expressions with 'Beside'

We have very few idioms with 'beside'. We are going to learn all about them below:

Be beside oneself: When we are experiencing a strong emotion that we feel almost out of control, we use this one:

Example

She was nearly beside herself when she broke up with her.

Harriet was so excited that I thought she was beside herself.

Beside the point: When something is not important, we use this to refer to it:

Example

What she is thinking of you is exactly beside the point honey.

The quantity is beside the point. It is the quality of your practice that matters most to me.

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