We sat opposite (to) each other.

[Ashraful Haque]

I was searching for the difference between 'opposite to' and 'opposite of' and I came across an answer which said that you can drop the 'to' when talking about things that are physically located in opposite places or facing each other. For example:

- They sat opposite each other.
- I parked the car opposite the bank.
- There's a nice park opposite my hotel.
- The people sitting opposite us looked very familiar.
- You'll see it on the wall opposite the door.
- Some soldiers fought opposite their fathers, brothers, or other family members.

I'm not sure about dropping the 'to.' Is it comparatively more natural?

 

[emsr2d2]

Adding "to" to all those sentences would make them ungrammatical. I actually can't think of a natural sentence involving "opposite to".

 

[Tarheel]

I have never used to or of in the first place. Also, you use opposite when I would not.

We sat opposite each other. (We sat across from each other.)
I parked the car across from the bank.
There's a nice park across the street from my hotel.
Some family members fought on opposite sides.

 

[emsr2d2]

"opposite of" is used (but not in the context of position).

Black is the opposite of white.
Up is the opposite of down.
That's the exact opposite of what I thought you were going to say.

 

[jutfrank]

When you follow with a place, as with all your examples in post #1, you must not use any preposition. Using a preposition would be wrong. When you follow with an object or person, it's as if we imagine that object/person to be a place in some way, because he/she occupies a position in space.

I actually can't think of a natural sentence involving "opposite to".

It's not easy but there are contexts where to is the correct choice. I think this is generally in cases where you could substitute with contrary to.

It was opposite to what you might expect.

 

[emsr2d2]

It's not easy but there are contexts where to is the correct choice. I think this is generally in cases where you could substitute with contrary to.

It was opposite to what you might expect.

I take your point entirely, though I would say "It was the [exact] opposite of what you might expect" there.

 

[Phaedrus]

Adding "to" to all those sentences would make them ungrammatical. I actually can't think of a natural sentence involving "opposite to".

The O.E.D. defines the preposition opposite, which is not used with to, as being equivalent in meaning to the adjective opposite modified by a prepositional phrase headed by to. Cambridge, similarly, categorizes opposite as an adjective when used with to; the example it gives is You'd never know they're sisters—They're completely opposite to each other in every way). By contrast, Webster's classes opposite as an adverb when it is used with to; the example it gives is He lives in the house opposite to mine. COCA contains 664 instances of opposite to. On Google, although there are 316,000 instances of "sat opposite each other," there are still 286,000 examples of "sat opposite to each other." In light of all this, the idea that "opposite to" is ungrammatical should be next to inconceivable.

 

[5jj]

On Google, although there are 316,000 instances of "sat opposite each other," there are still 286,000 examples of "sat opposite to each other." In light of all this, the idea that "opposite to" is ungrammatical should be next to inconceivable.

Interestingly, the third of those 286,000 links when I googled the words was a link to this British Council Q and A:

[FONT=british_council]Hello Kirk, I have a doubt with the following sentence.[/FONT]
[FONT=british_council]'They sat opposite each other'
why not ' they sat opposite to each other' ?

[/FONT]
[FONT=british_council]Hello Melody16,[/FONT]
[FONT=british_council]'Opposite' can have several functions in the sentence and when to use 'to' depends on this. It can be a noun, an adjective, a preposition or an adverb. When we use it to show location, as a preposition, it is used without 'to' as we do not need two prepositions in a row. Your sentence is an example of this.[/FONT]
[FONT=british_council]When we use 'opposite' as an adjective with the meaning '[completely] different', we need to add 'to':[/FONT]
[FONT=british_council]This sweater is opposite in colour to yours.[/FONT]
[FONT=british_council]The direction of the water is opposite to what I expected.[/FONT]
[FONT=british_council]When we use 'opposite' as an adverb, which is quite unusual, we do not add 'to':[/FONT]
[FONT=british_council]I went to the left of the room and he went opposite.[/FONT]
[FONT=british_council]I hope that helps to clarify it for you.[/FONT]
[FONT=british_council]Best wishes,[/FONT]
[FONT=british_council]Peter[/FONT]
[FONT=british_council]The LearnEnglish Team[/FONT]

 

[Phaedrus]

How do you propose to explain away sense B.1.a from the O.E.D. (below)?

B.adj. 1. a. Situated on the other or further side, or on either side, of an intervening line, space, or thing; contrary in position; facing. Frequently with to and (now less commonly) from; formerly also with †against.



Said of the two ends of a line or the two sides of a line or plane, in relation to each other; of two points which are the images of each other upon reflection in a line, axis, or plane of symmetry, etc.; of two sides of an elongated figure or body which are parallel or almost parallel; and of two points of a circle which are at the ends of a diameter. In a quadrilateral, opposite sides are distinguished from adjacent sides which meet in an angle; opposite angles are at the two ends of a diagonal. Opposite sides of a street, courtyard, or the like, face each other, but opposite sides of a building face directly away from each other. The opposite angles formed by two intersecting straight lines also lie in contrary directions; hence the notion of opposite directions in sense B. 4.

2. a. Contrary in nature, character, or tendency, etc.; diametrically different; having or expressing a contrary view, argument, etc. Frequently with to and (now less commonly) from; occasionally with than (with subordinate clause).

 

[5jj]

I have never found it necessary to 'explain away' any OED definition.

 

[Phaedrus]

I have never found it necessary to 'explain away' any OED definition.

Good, then, you acknowledge, with me and contra ems, that "opposite to" is grammatical, even in sentences like the OP's first example.

 

[5jj]

No.

 

[Phaedrus]

No.

OK, then you must find the following excerpt from Quirk et al., concerning the optionality of to in that sense of opposite, to be rather inconvenient.

"Opposite means 'facing' and has optional to:

Her house is opposite (to) mine." (p. 680, emphasis mine)

- Quirk, Randolph, et al. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman, 1985.

 

[5jj]

No.

Quirk considers 'to' optional. I consider it redundant.

 

[Phaedrus]

No.

Quirk considers 'to' optional. I consider it redundant.

Let's suppose it is redundant. Can you infer ungrammaticality from redundancy? If something in grammar is redundant, is it ipso facto ungrammatical?

 

[5jj]

No, but then I didn't say it was. Your mentioning 286,000 hit for sat opposite to each other caused me to enter the thread to suggest that the number of Google hits for a phrase was no indication that all 286,00 were necessarily examples of acceptable English. I've just got 464,000 hits for ain't done nothing.

I have just checked the BNC and COCA, rather more reliable than Google, for sat opposite me/you/him/her/us/them/each other. BYU gave 45 citations for the phrase without 'to' and 3 with it. Coca gave 75 without 'to' and 3 with it. I have to admit that I did not check each citation for its acceptability/grammaticality.

It appears that prepositional 'opposite to' is used, but is far less common than the form without 'to'.

 

[Phaedrus]

It appears that prepositional 'opposite to' is used, but is far less common than the form without 'to'.

Be the statistics as they may, the construction is clearly grammatical. Contradict me if you must, but why also buck the O.E.D. and Quirk et al.?

 

[5jj]

Phaedrus, I am not contradicting you, I am not 'bucking' Quirk or the OED.

jutfrank and emsr2d2 may have gone too for in calling prepositional 'opposite to' ungrammatical/wrong, but I think your 'the idea that "opposite to" is ungrammatical should be next to inconceivable' was a little OTT.

 

[Phaedrus]

Contradict me if you must, but why also buck the O.E.D. and Quirk et al.?

. . . I am not contradicting you, I am not 'bucking' Quirk or the OED.

:-D

. . . I think your 'the idea that "opposite to" is ungrammatical should be next to inconceivable' was a little OTT.

It was perhaps overly enthusiastic of me to say that, but please understand that I don't even find "opposite to" unnatural, let alone ungrammatical; so, to me, ems's assertion that "[a]dding 'to' to all those sentences would make them ungrammatical" was likewise OTT.

I'll concede that the to-less version seems a bit more popular. For example, "stationed opposite each other" beats "stationed opposite to each other" on Google 1470 to 659.

 

[5jj]

For example, "stationed opposite each other" beats "stationed opposite to each other" on Google 1470 to 659.

You really ought to stop using Google search for this kind of thing. It claimed to give me 644 results, though when I scrolled down I found only 34, nine of which were for The LXX. has [FONT=&quot]φ υλακη[/FONT]̀ [FONT=&quot]κατέναντι φυλακῆς[/FONT]; the Vulgate custodia contra custodiam; implying that Hosah’s warders were stationed opposite to each othe., and fifteen for[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]And the Philistines and Hebrews being at this time hotly engaged in war, as the armies were stationed opposite to each other, a certain man of the Philistines named Goliath, a man of marvelous size and strength, passing along the ranks of his countrymen, cast insults, in the fiercest terms, upon the enemy, and challenged any one to engage in single combat with him.