NDA (II) 2017 General Ability Test · Question 49 of 150

Correct — A, by. 'By the side of' is the ordinary way English says 'beside', so the sentence reads 'I saw her when she was standing by the side of the old statue.'

• (b)at — 'At the side of' picks out one flank of something larger, as in 'at the side of the road', rather than saying that a person is standing next to a thing.
• (c)in — 'In the side of' places something inside the surface itself, as in 'a crack in the side of the wall', which cannot be true of a person standing there.
• (d)beyond — 'Beyond' means further away than, so it would put her past the statue rather than next to it.

'By the side of' is a fixed way of saying 'beside', and the preposition at its head cannot be swapped for another.

Each of the other three prepositions has a real use before 'the side of', which is what makes the item worth asking. Fitting each into the picture the sentence draws — a person standing next to a statue — leaves only 'by'.

• 'By' on its own can mean 'next to', as in 'she was standing by the statue'.
• 'At the side of' picks out a flank or edge of something larger.
• 'Beside' means next to, while 'besides' means in addition.

• Treating 'at', 'by' and 'in' as interchangeable before 'the side of'.

Asked as a blank-filling item testing which preposition completes a fixed phrase of place.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the preposition that best fills the blank — The old temple stands ____ the bank of the river.

  • (a)in
  • (b)on
  • (c)at
  • (d)beyond

  Answer(b) on — English says 'on the bank of a river'.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the preposition that best fills the blank — He sat quietly ____ the side of his sleeping father.

  • (a)in
  • (b)by
  • (c)beyond
  • (d)into

  Answer(b) by — 'by the side of' means beside.