By the beach.

If I used "by the beach" = "beside the beach"....ISn't the same meaning with near the beach?

Beside means near, right?

Beside is stronger than near. It means "adjacent to". But you don't build sandcastles adjacent to the beach. You build them on the beach.

So, isn't correct to say:

They built the sandcastles by the beach.

It is not correct. It doesn't make any sense to say that, unless, in context, some way they could have done that is evident. For example, if there were a playground with a sandpit near the beach, and they built the sandcastles in that, you could say they built the sandcastles by the beach. But if they built their sandcastles from beach sand, then they built them on the beach, not by the

Thanks , but I still didn't get it the meaning- by the beach ... could you show me the picture?

Hi,

Assume the road is beside the beach.

Assume you built a sandcastle on the road.

You could say 'I built it by the beach'.

Vincent, you know waht 'beside' means, don't you?

Clive

If I say,

'I built it by the beach'.

That means, I built it on the road?