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Imagine the ground (which represents the surface of anything): On is touching and at rest - "The flower is resting on the table" - but can also be used for Onto . Onto is movement from not touching to a state of touching and at rest ("on") - "The cup fell onto the floor" (now at rest) with an emphasis on the movement. Upon is like On/onto but with a little more sense of contact or weight - "The brick fell hard upon his head", "The book is sitting upon the shelf" Over is higher than or on something with a sense of spreading (either by size, movement or uncertainty of location) - "The bird hovered over the tree", "There was writing all over the parcel", "The plane flew over the ocean" Above is like over, but suggests being vertically over and is made in contrast to below, and can have a sense of order/rank.
- Imagine the ground (which represents the surface of anything): On is touching and at rest - "The flower is resting on the table" - but can also be used for Onto .
- Onto is movement from not touching to a state of touching and at rest ("on") - "The cup fell onto the floor" (now at rest) with an emphasis on the movement.
- Upon is like On/onto but with a little more sense of contact or weight - "The brick fell hard upon his head", "The book is sitting upon the shelf" Over is higher than or on something with a sense of spreading (either by size, movement or uncertainty of location) - "The bird hovered over the tree", "There was writing all over the parcel", "The plane flew over the ocean" Above is like over, but suggests being vertically over and is made in contrast to below, and can have a sense of order/rank.
- "The Pope is above a Cardinal who is above a Bishop", "The bird hovered above the tree" Up suggests height above, either by being high or going in the direction of away - "The balloon was up in the sky", "It was moving up" Hopefully someone can improve on this and add cases missed!
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On is touching and at rest - "The flower is resting on the table" - but can also be used for Onto.
Onto is movement from not touching to a state of touching and at rest ("on") - "The cup fell onto the floor" (now at rest) with an emphasis on the movement.
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