Olivia
what is different between “across ”and "over"

They are walking over the bridge

The airplane is flying over the river

They are swimming across the river

when should i use across ?when should i use over?

Jun 3, 2015 9:44 AM
Comments · 3
1

"Over" means that you are above something, it doesn't necessarily mean something is moving.

 

E.g. "The flames rose over the roof." It means the flames are higher than the roof.

 

"They put a cardboard box over the squirrel."

 

"Across" means going the length of something.

 

E.g. "The flames rose across the roof." That means the flames went across the length of the roof, from one end to another.

 

"She was across the street when he saw her." This means she was on the other side of the street. You couldn't say "She was over the street" unless she was hovering in midair.

 

Both words are near-synonyms when talking about passing along something, e.g. you can say "He walked across the bridge" or "He walked over the bridge." Either is correct. However, "He walked across the bridge" sounds a bit more natural in this case.

 

As a general rule of thumb, I would use "across" if you're talking about walking, bicycling, driving, etc. and "over" when talking about flying. Think of "over" like a dot hovering above something and "across" as a line going from one side of the direct object to another. 

 

I hope that's helpful. Here's some mor info from Cambridge Dictionary: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/across-over-or-through

June 3, 2015

- Across (Prep + Adv). Across means on the other side of something, or from one side to the other of something which has sides or limits such as a city, road or river

=> We took a boat across the river.

- We also use across when something touches or stretches from one side to another:

=> The Ponte Vecchio is a beautiful old bridge across the river Arno in Florence.

- Especially in American English, across from is used to refer to people or objects being ‘opposite’ or ‘on the other side’:

=> Helen’s office is just across from mine.

- We use across to emphasise that something is happening at the same time in many places, e.g. within an organisation, a city or a country:

=> She’s opened coffee shops across the city and they’re very successful.

- We also use across to refer to the width or diagonal measurement of something:

=> The size of a television screen is measured from the higher corner of one side to the lower corner of the other side, that is, from one corner across to the opposite corner.

- Across comes after measurements when we talk about diameter or width:

=> The building is 157 metres long, 92 metres across and the façade is 68 metres wide.

 

June 4, 2015

- Over (Prep + Adj). We use Over to refer to something at a higher position than something else, sometimes involving movement from one side to another
=> From the castle tower, you can see over the whole city.
- Come over often means to come to the speaker’s home:
=> You must come over and have dinner with us some time.
- Especially when we use them as adverbs, over can mean the same as across:
=> We walked over to the shop. (or We walked across to the shop – the shop is on the other side of the road)
(Found it on Cambridge dictionary, I hope it will be a great help for you ^^)

June 4, 2015