English Grammar

Beside and Besides

Beside is a preposition. It means ‘at the side of’, ‘close to’.

• She sat beside her mother.

Beside can also mean ‘compared with’.

• You are quite tall beside your sister.

Besides

Besides can be used as a preposition with a similar meaning to ‘as well as’.

• Besides physics, we have to study chemistry and mathematics.

Besides can also be used as a discourse marker meaning ‘also’, ‘as well’. In this case it goes at the beginning of a clause.

• It is too late to go out now. Besides, it is starting to rain.

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