What’s the difference between ‘near’ and ‘nearby’?

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What’s the difference between ‘near’ and ‘nearby’?

Near and nearby both mean close. The difference between them only depends on the way that they are used. In some cases, near and nearby can be used interchangeably. However, just because someone uses them interchangeably does not mean it is grammatically correct. The main differences between them are:

 

1. Near can be a preposition, but nearby When it is used as a preposition, near means close to instead of just “close”. For both words near and nearby, they can be used as an adverb showing where something is.

  • My house is near the park. (Near the park is the prepositional phrase, meaning “close to the park”.)
  • My house is near. (Near is used as an adverb here.)
  • My house is nearby. (Nearby is the adverb showing place.)

You cannot say “my house is nearby the park.”

 

2. Near in some cases shows how close in time something is, rather than just physical distance. Nearby cannot mean something close in time.

The date of my brother’s college graduation is near, but I still have not purchase my plane tickets.

  • Spring is near, and everyone can feel the weather getting warmer!
  • The near future will bring only more good news.

You cannot say that the date of something is “nearby”.

 

3. When it comes to arranging words in a sentence, nearby is more flexible. You can use it either before or after the noun that you describe. However, near almost always appears before the noun if there is no linking verb. In these cases, it usually refers to time, rather than space.

  • I spent a lot of time at the nearby restaurant.
  • I spend a lot of time at the restaurant nearby.

I know we are talking about these concepts on the abstract level right now, but they should be close to becoming reality in the near future.

You cannot use near as a descriptor for something that is physically close to you. The only exception is if you are contrasting something close to you with something far away, as in this example:

  • The near side of building is closed for renovations now, but the far side is accessible to the public still.
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