I’m trying to distinguish between “prone” and “prostrate”. can you tell me what are the difference between “01” and “02” / “03” and “04” / “05” and "06?
01) lying prone on floor.
02) lying prostrate on floor.
03) prone position.
04) prostrate position.
05) prone at/on your desk. (face down in the book)
06) prostrate at/on your desk. (face down in the book)
No. It is not really possible to show the difference in meaning, because you have not given complete sentences.
color=indigo As Tom entered the room, he saw Paul, prostrate on the floor before the War Lord.
(2) As Tom entered the room, he saw Paul, prone on the floor before the War Lord.
The two sentences differ by one word, yet have very different meanings.
Both ‘prone’ and ‘prostrate’ mean lying flat, face downward. However, ‘prostrate’ has the connotation of being humble, submissive, that prone doesn’t.
In sentence 1, Paul seems to be adoring or submitting to the War Lord, maybe begging him for mercy,
while in sentence 2, Tom is just lying there - maybe the War Lord has hurt or killed him. How Tom reacts, and what he does next depends entirely on that one word!
The first one is extremely confused without punctuation.
He lay prone on the floor before the king, who had shot him to death. = He was shot to death by the King and lay prone on the floor in front of him.
I think of “prone” position as one you voluntarily assume, such as getting into prone position to shoot varmints, while one falls prostrate when he is utterly exhausted. That’s not in disagreement with what others have said, but it explains a little more of the semantics.