along

The word "along" is a preposition that changes meaning depending on the verb with which it’s used. Generally, "along" is used for movement, direction, and location.

• We walked along the river. (We walked on the side of the river, parallel to the river.)
• There’s a great hotel along the ocean. (It’s located on the ocean with a view of the water.)
• The police officer told everyone to move along. (The officer told people to move away from a place.)
• As I was driving along the highway, I noticed several signs for fast food joints. (I was driving on the highway and in the direction that it was leading me.)
• There’s a bunch of junk along the side of the house. (The junk is next to the house.)

As we were walking along, we came upon some houses by the side of the road.

The word "along" is found in many idioms:

• Do you get along with your coworkers? (get along = have a good relationship)
• The children sang along with the teacher. (sing along = sing with or sing the same words at the same time)
• Does she want to come along? (come along = come with, share the experience of something)
• Rick keeps a gun alongside his bed in case of intruders. (alongside = next to)
• Okay, you can run along now. (run along = go away)
• Sometimes it’s easier just to go along with what others are doing than to do something different. (go along = do what other people do; to adapt behavior that is similar to others)

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This page was first published on April 3, 2012.

It was amended on January 16, 2015.