Prepositions in English: ABOVE, OVER, ON, ON TOP

An important basic English lesson! There are many ways to talk about the position or location of a person or thing. In this essential video, we will look at the uses of the prepositions "above", "over", "on", and "on top of". Though they all indicate a position or location that is higher than another, they have specific differences. Watch the video to find out when each word is used and why. Then, test your knowledge by doing the quiz at http://www.engvid.com/prepositions-in-english-above-over-on-on-top/

TRANSCRIPT

Hi. I'm Adam. Welcome to www.engvid.com. In today's video we're going to look at the difference between the prepositions: "over", "above", "on", and "on top of". Now, in many cases you will find or you will hear native English speakers mixing these up. They're... In some cases they're interchangeable. If you use "over" or "above" or "on", everybody will understand you, the idea will be clear, the image of the situation will be clear, but there are certain situations where you must use one or the other. So, we're going to look at all of these and I'm going to give you the specifics, and then I'm going to give you some more sample sentences to see where they can be interchangeable and where they can't. Okay?

So: "over", when do we use "over"? So, first of all, all of these prepositions talk about a higher position. When we use "over" we're generally speaking about the movement of something higher. Right? So: "The clouds moved over the city." What does this mean? It doesn't mean that the clouds came and then just stayed there. No. "Over" means they came and they passed, and they kept going. Right? So we always have that idea of movement when we're talking about "over". The sheep jumped over the fence. They didn't jump above the fence, because then they would just be stuck there. There's the fence, there's above, the sheep is in the middle of the air. Sounds a little bit strange. So they jumped over the fence, with movement. We use "over" with numbers. Basically, it means more than, but we use it specifically with numbers. I think you got my message there. I'm going to have dirty fingers later, but that's okay. There's soap. More than. "Over 100 people came to the party." Means more than 100 people came to the party. So, sometimes you'll see something like this: "100+" it just basically means "over", or: "100+ people came". We use this with numbers.

"Cover". "To cover something" means to put something on top of, but it doesn't necessarily have to be one on top of the other. It just means to cover, to put some sort of protection on something. So: "Put a hand over your mouth when you cough." [Coughs] That's my pen thing. Okay. Prefix. We also use "over" as a prefix with nouns, adjectives, or verbs sometimes to, again, it's... The idea is more than, but it's also in terms of the verb it means extra, beyond what is normal or beyond what is necessary. So, if someone is "overweight" means they have too much weight. Okay? Obese. Not necessarily obese. Obese is even more overweight than overweight, but again, not thin. To "overestimate", so you have to guess a certain level of something. So I think there will be 100 people at my party, but I overestimated. What does that mean? It means that only 75 people came, so I guessed too far. I reached too far with my guess. "Override" basically means take control of. So if I... If a system, whatever system we're looking at is controlled by a computer, I can override the computer, I can basically put my power over the computer's power-higher than, stronger than-and I can take control of the system. "Overzealous", too much zealous. So, another way to think of it is "too". "Zealous" means like eager, really wanting to do, really have a very focused motivation for something. If you're overzealous, you have too much of this thing, above the normal level.

So, now, speaking of the normal level: "above". Two... Two ways to use this. One is, of course, in terms of like physical relationship. Something is higher in relation to something else. But generally it is on the same plane. Now, what does "plane" mean? In terms of space, something is on a same line I guess you could say. Right? If you have a wall, so something is above something on the wall. So, "over" is listed above "above" because they're on a flat plane, on the flat whiteboard, one is higher than the other. Now, if we go back to the clouds: "The clouds lingered above the city."

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