Along vs Through - What's the difference?

As prepositions the difference between along and through

is that along is by the length of; in a line with the length of; lengthwise next to while through is from one side of an opening to the other.

As adverbs the difference between along and through

is that along is in company; together while through is from one side to the other by way of the interior.

As an adjective through is

passing from one side of an object to the other.

As a noun through is

a large slab of stone laid on a tomb.

along

English

Preposition

(English prepositions)

By the length of; in a line with the length of; lengthwise next to.

* {{quote-book, 1892, Sir (Arthur Conan Doyle), chapter=(The Adventure of the Cooper Beeches), (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes), page=294 citation

, passage=They were waiting for me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching along the entire front of the house, with three long windows reaching down to the floor}}

* , chapter=3

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.}}

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Stephen P. Lownie], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/david-m-pelz David M. Pelz

, magazine=(American Scientist), title= Stents to Prevent Stroke , passage=As we age, the major arteries of our bodies frequently become thickened with plaque, a fatty material with an oatmeal-like consistency that builds up along the inner lining of blood vessels.}}

In a line with, with a progressive motion on; onward on; forward on.

* Bible, 1 (w) vi. 12

The kinewent along the highway.

* {{quote-book, 1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, chapter=The Tutor's Daughter, Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion, page=266 citation

, passage=In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road.}}

* {{quote-book, 1892, Sir (Arthur Conan Doyle), chapter=(The Boscombe Valley Mystery), (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes), page=93 citation

, passage=Swiftly and silently he made his way along the track which ran through the meadows.}}

* , chapter=13

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time.}}

Synonyms

* alongst (archaic)

Derived terms

* alongside * herealong * therealong * wherealong

Adverb

(-)

In company; together.

Onward, forward, with progressive action.

* , chapter=1

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.}}

Synonyms

* alongst (archaic)

Derived terms

* go along to get along

Derived terms

{{der3 , all along , along of , along the lines , along those lines , along with , come along , get along , rock along }}

Statistics

Anagrams

* (l), (l), (l), (l) 200 English basic words English prepositions 1000 English basic words

through

English

Alternative forms

* thorow (obsolete) * thru

Etymology 1

From (etyl) *. See also thorough.

Preposition

(English prepositions)

From one side of an opening to the other.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838

, page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) , title= Ideas coming down the track , passage=A “moving platform” scheme

Entering, then later leaving.

*:Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging.He walked the whole way, walking through crowds, and under the noses of dray-horses, carriage-horses, and cart-horses, without taking the least notice of them.

*:Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= No hiding place , passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%.}}

Surrounded by (while moving).

*, chapter=1

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.}}

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=76, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Snakes and ladders , passage=Risk is everywhere.

By means of.

*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 28, author=Tom Rostance, title=Arsenal 2-1 Olympiakos

, work=BBC Sport citation , passage=But the home side were ahead in the eighth minute through 18-year-old Oxlade-Chamberlain.}}

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.}}

(lb) To (or up to) and including, with all intermediate values.

Derived terms

(terms derived using the preposition "through") * clear through * feedthrough * get through * go through * look through * right through * through and through * through with * throughput * throughway

Adjective

(-)

Passing from one side of an object to the other.

Finished; complete.

Valueless; without a future.

No longer interested.

*:“I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.

*1977 , Iggy Pop,

*:I'm worth a million in prizes / Yeah, I'm through with sleeping on the sidewalk / No more beating my brains / No more beating my brains / With the liquor and drugs / With the liquor and drugs

Proceeding from origin to destination without delay due to change of equipment.

Adverb

(-)

From one side to the other by way of the interior.

The arrow went straight through .

From one end to the other.

Others slept; he worked straight through .

She read the letter through .

To the end.

He said he would see it through .

Completely.

Leave the yarn in the dye overnight so the color soaks through .

Out into the open.

The American army broke through at St. Lo.

References

* Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Bounded landmarks", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition , Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8

Etymology 2

From (etyl)

Noun

(en noun)

A large slab of stone laid on a tomb.

Statistics

* 100 English basic words 200 English basic words English locatives