Change of location
Change of location implies motion. Source represents the initial location, and is typically marked by the preposition from, while Goal represents the final location and is most often marked by to, or by to in combination with on for a surface (onto) or in for a container (into). ‘Home’ in go home is an exception in not expressing the notion of final location (Goal) explicitly. (Note the explicit encoding of location in BrE ‘stay at home’ against the inexplicit AmE ‘stay home’).
From (source) . . . to (goal) From the bus-stop to the stadium.
Off . . . (source) . . . onto (goal) The vase fell off the table onto the floor.
Off . . . (source) . . . into (goal) The boy fell off the cliff into the sea.
Out of (source) I took the money out of my purse. The wasp flew out
of the window (BrE), out the window (AmE).
Across, along (path) We went from the bus-stop, along the street to
the stadium.
Through (passage) We went through the tunnel.
Out of is visualized as exit from a container. Note that the adverb out + the preposition of provides the converse meaning with respect to into: into the water/out of the water, while away + from indicates greater distancing: away from the water. Similarly, off is the converse of on and onto (off the table onto the floor, both implying movement).
Embeddings of prepositional phrases within adverbial groups express complex spatial meanings which are difficult to translate, for example: back from the front line, in from the fields, over to the left, up from below.
Across, along express Path. The difference is that along simply follows a horizontal axis (We walked along the river bank, Cars were parked along the street), while across involves crossing the axis, or an open space, at an angle, from one side to another (She walked across the street/the field).
Through typically has the meaning of Passage (motion into a point and then out of it (He hurried through the doorway). The Ground can also be two-dimensional (You could go through the park, through a maze of streets) or three-dimensional, with volume (We drove through the tunnel).
Past is similar to along, but with respect to some fixed point: Go past the stadium and you’ll come to a supermarket.
