Learn English - Grammar

Above and Over

Above indicates a position higher than something.

• The birds flew up above the trees.
  
• The sun rose above the horizon.
  
• There is a mirror above the washbasin.
  
• We have rented a room above the shop.
  
• She is above average in intelligence.
  
• Your name comes above mine on the list.
  

Above and Over

Above and over can both mean higher than.

• The helicopter hovered above/over the building.
  
• The water came up above/over our knees.

Above is preferred when we want to mean that one thing is not directly over another.

• There is a small cottage above the lake. (The cottage is not directly over the lake.)
  

Above is also used in measurements of temperature, height, intelligence etc., where we think of a vertical scale.

• The temperature never rose above 10 degree Celsius.
  

Over is preferred when one thing covers and/or touches another.

• He put on a coat over his shirt.
  
• There was cloud over the city.
  

Over is also used to talk about ages and speeds, and to mean more than.

• You have to be over 18 to see that film.
  
• There were over 50 fifty people at the meeting.
  

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