to/on the right

[Maybo]

Is it okay to say "do you see the shadow cast by the building to/on the right"?

What are the difference? If I use "to", that means the shadow is connected with or very close to the building?

 

[Tdol]

To is OK to me.

 

[jutfrank]

Using to gives a relation between the two locations. It means 'to the right of the shadow'.

Using on locates the building relative to the perspective of the viewer. It means 'on the right of the picture'.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I hear more of a difference in phrases like "Step to the right" versus "The last house on the left."

 

[jutfrank]

I don't feel that difference.

I'm not sure what you mean. That is the difference, whether you feel it or not.

I hear more of a difference in phrases like "Step to the right" versus "The last house on the left."

Yes, the same basic difference is shown there.

 

[GoesStation]

Using to gives a relation between the two locations. It means 'to the right of the shadow'.

Using on locates the building relative to the perspective of the viewer. It means 'on the right of the picture'.

I don't feel that difference.

I do, but I couldn't find the words to describe it.

 

[jutfrank]

Can't argue with a confident man.

I've spent the best part of the last six years researching and working on the semantics of prepositions for a personal project. I'm a lot more confident now than when I started.

Napoleon Wilson, Assault on Precinct 13 (1976).

Off-topic, but I can't help adding how much I love that film. I watched it just last week, as part of the 'John Carpenter lockdown series' I'm currently enjoying.

 

[jutfrank]

Unfortunately, the way we use prepositions changes all the time.

No, that's not correct.

Even in a constrained time period, there are still differences in use between speakers of different varieties and dialects.

Not really.

Firstly, there are very few differences in use between varieties. Secondly, any differences in use show differences in the ways that speakers picture the world. The essential meanings of prepositions are very much the same regardless of culture.

 

[Maybo]

I hear more of a difference in phrases like "Step to the right" versus "The last house on the left."

That's what confuses me! When I use "to", I feel like "the building is going to the right hand side of the shadow (it's more about motion to me).
When I use "on" it makes much sense to me because the building doesn't move and is located on the right hand side of the shadow.

I'm thinking if the use of "to" is similar to the "to" in "opposite to".

 

[Tarheel]

We're not talking about anything moving. (Buildings don't move.) It's a direction.

 

[Maybo]

We're not talking about anything moving. (Buildings don't move.) It's a direction.

I know, but when I use "to", I feel a motion there.

 

[Tarheel]

If you say so.
;-)

 

[jutfrank]

That's what confuses me! When I use "to", I feel like "the building is going to the right hand side of the shadow (it's more about motion to me).

Yes, it is about motion, but it's your eyes that are moving, not the building.

When I use "on" it makes much sense to me because the building doesn't move and is located on the right hand side of the shadow.

Yes, that's right.

I'm thinking if the use of "to" is similar to the "to" in "opposite to".

Well, loosely, yes, in the sense that there is a necessary relation between objects. In the same way that an object can be opposite only in relation to another object, something can be to the right of something only if the other thing is to the left.