prepositions question?

Question

hi so i am working on reviewing my prepositions & i got confused. i always thought that "as" was a preosition.
then it also says that "beside" & "besides" are two DIFFERENT prepositions. doesnt that sound crazy? thanks

Answer 1

"As" is a preposition. In fact it is a very busy little word. It can be an adverb and other things. (see here: http://209.161.33.50/dictionary/as )

Sometimes it is a subordinate conjunction. In fact, a number of prepositions are also used as conjunctions (subordinate or coordinating).
See this link for a list:
http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/grammar_subordinate.html.


Beside/besides have different meanings. Look them up.
Beside means next to. (Come stand beside me.)
Besides means other than. (There is no dictator besides this one.)

The rest of the prepositions: (sorry about the length of the list)
about
above
according to
across
after
against
along
along with
among
apart from
around
as
as for
at
because of
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
between
beyond
but*
by
by means of
concerning
despite
down
during
except
except for
excepting
for
from
in
in addition to
in back of
in case of
in front of
in place of
inside
in spite of
instead of
into
like
near
next
of
off
on
onto
on top of
out
out of
outside
over
past
regarding
round
since
through
throughout
till
to
toward
under
underneath
unlike
until
up
upon
up to
with
within
without

Answer 2

Well, that was fun to look up. Words are pretty interesting. I never thought of 'as' being a preposition, but the dictionary gives examples of it used in that way. Same thing with 'besides'. Of course 'beside' makes sense - after all it shows location. But in general I use the other two more as adverbs. It's nice to know they can be both.

Answer 3

Beside is a preposition. Beside = next to. Besides = set apart.
Besides Mark, no one wanted to go to the movie.
I sat beside Mark, Jessie, and Jim at the movie.

Answer 4

No it doesn't sound crazy because beside is not plural and besides is plural. Also did you say that as was a prepositions?