over/under vs above/below?

[keannu]

My grammar books says over/under is used even in case of two things adjacent or attached to each other, while above/below is in case of two thing always with space inbetween. Is it true?

ex)She wore a coat over the sweater(attached to each other)
Wear a sweater under the jacket(attached to each other)
VS
The water came above our knees.(space between knee and water)
Skirts must be below the knee. (space between knee and skirt)

 

[Coolfootluke]

I am not a teacher.

Yes. The rule seems to be working for you. There are exceptions, of course. Deep water is over our heads, not above them, for example.

 

[Khosro]

My grammar books says over/under is used even in case of two things adjacent or attached to each other, while above/below is in case of two thing always with space inbetween. Is it true?

ex)She wore a coat over the sweater(attached to each other)
Wear a sweater under the jacket(attached to each other)
VS
The water came above our knees.(space between knee and water)
Skirts must be below the knee. (space between knee and skirt)

keannu I think sometimes that could be a usefull rule. You should also note the "even" ; and I think that "always" is wrong.

But "over" and "above" (as prepositions) and "under" and "below" (again as preposition) have some other differences as well. A dictionary sure can help you.

besides, the verb of the sentence itself is important when chosing between over and above, and under and below.

 

[Khosro]

My grammar books says over/under is used even in case of two things adjacent or attached to each other, while above/below is in case of two thing always with space inbetween. Is it true?

ex)She wore a coat over the sweater(attached to each other)
Wear a sweater under the jacket(attached to each other)
VS
The water came above our knees.(space between knee and water)
Skirts must be below the knee. (space between knee and skirt)

I might need to post several replys to this thread.

keannu, I recommend you to think about the concepts, not the rules.

1- You gave two examples for over and under. What are they about? They are about clothes. More specifically they are about "covers". something covers something else.

What about "above" and "below" in your examples. you wrote:"space between knee and water". is there really a space between knee and water? Haa? No, there is not. You just want to say that the water raised to a higher position than the height of your knees. Here the concept is "height", "vertical position". The same goes with "Skirts must be below the knee".

But concepts related to these four prepositions are not just covering and vertical position. There are some other concepts as well. When you learn those concepts then you can easily use these four. But you should see different examples.

2) Note that here these are prepositions. They could also function as adverbs.

 

[keannu]

I'm sorry, but I need more opinions. Thanx.