douglas.bryant - Good post. One correction, though. You write that "the preposition ... 'to' can be used to associate (come to fruition, came to believe)." In the latter example, however, "to" is not acting as a preposition but as part of the infinitive "to believe." And I'm not sure the first example really illustrates your point: you "come to fruition" just as you "come to your house" or to an idea or to anything or anywhere else. The "to" indicates a destination or direction, and isn't really associative in the way that it is in "identical to." (A better example, possibly: "TO MY MIND, either way works.")

Anyway, just some nitpicking, none of which takes away from your points.