beyond
biˈjɑːnd
Why "beyond my authority" and "beyond repair" draw the same line
The picture A line is drawn on the ground and something sits on the far side of it, out of reach from where you stand. WITHIN stays inside the line; BEYOND has crossed it and gone out the other side.
Where the picture shows up in beyond
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the far side
The warehouse is just beyond the bridge.
ðə ˈwerhaʊs ɪz dʒʌst biˈjɑːnd ðə brɪdʒ
The warehouse is right across the bridge.
The bridge as a line, with the warehouse standing on its far side.
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past the hour
We cannot keep the room beyond six o'clock.
wiː kænˈɑːt kiːp ðə ruːm biˈjɑːnd sɪks əˈklɑːk
We can't use the room after six.
Time slipping out to the right of the vertical line marked six o'clock.
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outside your reach
That is beyond my authority.
ðæt ɪz biˈjɑːnd maɪ əˈθɔːrəti
That decision is not mine to make.
The request lying outside the circle your outstretched arm can cover.
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past the point of return
The phone is damaged beyond repair.
ðə foʊn ɪz ˈdæmɪdʒd biˈjɑːnd rɪˈper
The phone is too badly damaged to fix.
The phone landing well past the line marking what can still be mended.
beyond repair, beyond help — past the boundary of what can be undone.
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outside what you know
I know nothing beyond what is in the email.
aɪ noʊ ˈnʌθɪŋ biˈjɑːnd wʌt ɪz ɪn ðiː ˈiːmeɪl
I know only what the email says.
A line drawn at the edge of your knowledge, with blank ground past it.
All of it in one picture
BEYOND is a line and the far side of it. Make the line a bridge and the warehouse stands across it; make it six o'clock and the extra hour lies past it; make it your authority and the request falls outside your reach; make it the limit of what can be mended and the phone lands past it; make it what you were told and the rest is empty ground you cannot see. Wherever beyond appears, there is a line here and something out past it.