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I bet there's a rest stop a couple of miles down.

I bet there's a rest stop a couple of miles away.

I bet there's a rest stop a couple of miles ahead.

What sounds natural "down", "away" or "ahead"?

And if some asks "we're still not there yet." and the person replies:

We're close. The map says that it's just a mile away/down/ahead.

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    Well, ahead means in front, while away could be 2 miles in any direction. We might say down the road, but we wouldn't use down on its own in this context.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Feb 22, 2020 at 12:10
  • So @KateBunting what works better "away" or "ahead"? And in the second context, what works better "ahead" or "away"?
    – It's about English
    Commented Feb 22, 2020 at 12:54
  • You could use either, or further on, in either sentence.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Feb 22, 2020 at 13:11
  • It could be an AmE vs BrE thing (and I doubt that too), but "it's ten miles down" with nothing afterwards doesn't seem natural English to me. You need to add a word or two at the end to make it sound idiomatic. down the road, down there, down south, down the valley or something.
    – Jaime
    Commented Feb 16, 2023 at 6:37

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To further confuse the issue, you could also say "down the road" or "up the road" or "up ahead." All of these expressions have exactly the same meaning. It has nothing to do with the altitude or hills along the road. No wonder English is nearly impossible to learn if you weren't born here!

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  • "Up" and "down" sometimes have specific associations, either based on altitude or towards/away from some reference point ("up to London", traditionally in England), or to different parts of town (as in uptown/downtown). So they're not absolutely interchangeable.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Dec 9 at 10:35
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'Away' does not imply direction. You could be stationary, not in a vehicle or on a road or path, and used the word 'away' in this sentence.

'Ahead' and 'down' both imply continuing in the direction you are already going. They could also be used when someone is gesturing in a particular direction.

Some people use 'down' for anything further along a path or road. Some people only use 'down' when going south or down hill, use 'up' for north or up hill, and use along for east/west/flat.

It would be unusual to say "I bet there's a rest stop a couple of miles down".

It would be more common to day "I bet there's a rest stop a couple of miles further down" or "I bet there's a rest stop a couple of miles down the road."

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