VOA名师答疑2024--Near and Nearby

 

Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Haruna in Japan about the usage¹ of the words "near" and "nearby."

Question

Dear Teacher,

Today, I have a question about two words, "near" and "nearby."

What is [the] difference between these two words?

Thank you and best regards,

Haruna

Answer

I'm happy to answer this question, Haruna.

Both words can mean "close in distance to something."

The word "near" also has other meanings, as we will see.

We can put the word "nearby" at the end of a sentence. For example, if you are in someone's house and a person in the house says:

The market is nearby.

That means the market is close to the house. The speaker does not need to say the word "house" because the word "nearby" means close to the place already stated or known.

However, when we use the word "near" to say where something is, we say both places. The following example shows this:

Their house is near the market.

The following two examples also show this difference in usage between "nearby" and "near":

The doctor's office is nearby.

The doctor's office is near the bank.

We can also use "nearby" as an adjective² before a noun³, as in this example:

Pollution from a nearby factory makes the air unhealthy to breathe.

Other uses of "near"

Next, let's look at three other ways we can use the word "near." We can use it as an adverb to express the idea that something will happen soon in the future, as in this example:

The end of our trip is near.

We can also use "near" as a compound⁴ adjective, as in the following example:

That old car is still in near-perfect condition.

Remember that when we write compound adjectives⁵, we must put a hyphen, or short line, connecting the two adjectives.

Lastly, we can use the word "near" as a verb, meaning "getting close to in time," as in this example:

The building project is nearing completion.

For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English? We'd like to hear from you. Send us an email at [email protected]. And please include where you are from in your email, too.

And that's Ask a Teacher.

I'm Andrew Smith.

Andrew Smith wrote this lesson for VOA Learning⁶ English.

1 usage   

n.惯用法，使用，用法

参考例句：

• I am clear about the usage of this word at last.这个词的用法我算是弄明白了。
• The usage is now firmly established.这种用法现已得到确认。

2 adjective   

n.形容词；adj.形容词的，用作形容词的

参考例句：

• Don't apply that adjective to me.不要用那个字眼来形容我。
• The adjective loose has several senses. 形容词loose有几个义项。

3 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

4 compound   

n.化合物；大院；adj.化合的；vt.加重；使化合

参考例句：

• Air is a mixture,not a compound of gases.空气是气体的混合物，不是化合物。
• How many households in the compound?院内有几家住户？

5 adjectives   

n.形容词( adjective的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We can form nouns from adjectives. 我们可以用形容词来构成名词。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Attributive adjectives precede the noun. 定语形容词位于名词前。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。