Preposions...

Ant_222   Sun May 07, 2006 10:25 am GMT
Hi all. I can't choose the right preposition here:

«Greyish green rocks obstructed half the sky [from, to,in] the east» or
«[From, To, In] the east the sky was obstructed by greyish green rocks»

I incline to 'from', the second preferred is 'in'. But which is the correct one?
Ant_222   Mon May 08, 2006 10:59 am GMT
Hey, that's not a homework. I am translatiing a text adventure. Why not to help me?
tina   Mon May 08, 2006 11:16 am GMT
Hi Ant_222

If i were u i'd prefer [ to] for the first one &&
[from] for the next sentence.

I mean: Greyish green rocks obstructed half the sky to the east .

From the east the sky was obstructed by greyish green rocks.
Ant_222   Mon May 08, 2006 1:17 pm GMT
And will both sentences have the same meaning?
lu   Mon May 08, 2006 1:39 pm GMT
I'll choose "from" for both sentences,but I don't know if it's right.
The meaning will be more clear if you give out the context.
Ant_222   Mon May 08, 2006 1:46 pm GMT
The context...

Well, you are standing near your crashed space life-boat. To the east of you are rocks obstructing the sky. That's all.
Guest   Mon May 08, 2006 2:58 pm GMT
Greyish green rocks obstructed half the sky [to] the east

[To] the east the sky was obstructed by greyish green rocks

The problem with these sentences is that their meaning is very similar but that there is also a subtle difference to each 1.
Ant_222   Mon May 08, 2006 3:30 pm GMT
Hmm. Three posts — three opinions. Does that mean that all the variants are grammatically correct and differ only in sounding?

To Guest:
«The problem with these sentences is that their meaning is very similar but that there is also a subtle difference to each 1.»

This is the difference between the logical stresses of <rocks> and <the east>. The first sentence focuses on <rocks> more than on <the east>, the second one — the other way round. Am I right?

Or did you mean the difference between the [to] and [from] sentences?
Johnathan Mark   Tue May 09, 2006 12:27 pm GMT
I would definately use 'to' in both, as it indicates direction. 'From' would indicate origin, and here I don't think makes sense. 'In' would work, but I think 'to' is your best option I would say.
Ant_222   Tue May 09, 2006 1:23 pm GMT
Tnank you. At last, I know the answer!