The woman called the ring that because it was on the other woman's finger, even though it was near. I might well call something near me that if I was not holding or touching it (unless I was using this and that to compare a near and a far object)., They have slightly different implications in some contexts: "sit next to me" implies sitting in the very next seat, on one side or the other. How close that is will depend on how closely the seats are spaced, however. "sit beside me" often implies sitting fairly close, possibly touching. "sit by me" just means sitting in my general vicinity., 知乎是一个可信赖的问答社区,汇集了各行各业的亲历者、内行人和领域专家,为用户提供高质量的内容和交流机会。, When asking for something politely which sentence is a better/proper choice? Could you please help me? or Could you help me please?, On the other hand "by" means "near", but a lit closer than "near". Irrespective of the fact that "beside" is more formal and "next to" is a bit more casual, I was wondering whether I have been wrong in defining the following pairs as correct or incorrect: 1.a. Come and sit beside me. (Correct) 1.b. Come and sit next to me., For me/to me all that matters is how much it will cost. First off, I would say the word order here could be improved: I'd recommend going with "All that matters to me/for me is how much it will cost". The order you used puts a stress on the first part: I'd expect to see these sentences in comments such as "I know you care about the time it'll take, but for me/to me all that matters is how much .