Near to vs next to

[Jo]

Shouldn't it be "next to" rather than "near to"? What's the difference? Thanks.

[Torsten]

Hi Jo,

Please take a look at these two examples:

Our office is the building next to the bank.
Our office is near the bank.

In the first sentence both buildings are side by side, maybe even adjacent to each other.
In the second sentence we only know that both buildings are not far away from each other but there could be one or more buildings between our office and the bank.
Please note that the preposition near is not followed by to.
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