Revision as of 13:28, 27 January 2013

French translations of this preposition, prefix, verbal & nominal particle: au-dessus de, chez soi, re-, encore, sur-, dé-, trans-

Preposition / Adverb

Test to determine part of speech

• I walked over the bridge. (prep.) --> I walked *slowly the bridge.
• I walked over to his office. (adv.) --> I walked slowly to his office.
• I just walked over. (adv.) --> I just walked slowly).
• I just walked the dog over. (adv. / particle) --> I just walked the dog slowly.
• I just walked over the dog. (prep.) --> I just walked *slowly the dog.

Preposition: over vs. above

• Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high...

Everyone knows Dorothy's song from the movie Wizard of Oz (1939). (movie version of Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 1900)

A photographer I've met in Paris has named her blog "Somewhere over my rainbow", an image that I must admit has grown on me over the years.

It seems to me that in these examples over has the sense of beyond (au délà de). Like beyond, "over" encompasses a lot of space, all the space above the rainbow. "Somewhere above the rainbow" does not imply all the space above, just a point in space. Imagine a transatlantic flight from Helsinki to New York:

• ^?First, we flew above the North Sea, then above the North Atlantic
• First, we flew over the North Sea then over the North Atlantic.

Prefix

Le préfixe est très productif:

• overbearing
• overclock(ing) / (-ed)
• overcom(e/ing)
• overlap(ping) -- chevaucher
• overly -- often "not overly"
• overlook(ing) -- miss out, surplombant,
• overrid(e/ing)
• overrul(e/ing)
• oversee(ing) -- surveiller / gérer de loin / manage from afar / steer (piloter)
• overtak(e/ing) -- dépasser
• overwhelm (v.) --

un liste plus complet chez agregink

Particle

• do it over = redo it (du début à la fin mais en s'appuyant sur ce qu'on a appris la première fois: ce qui n'est pas le cas avec "do it again".)

• get over it: prepositional usage: se remettre de
• get it over with: accomplir / subir un acte peu réjouissant
• get it done with: même sens (plus rare)

• read it over: ambiguous: le relire ou le parcourir.
• make-over