Run over means to hit someone or something with a vehicle, often used in the passive: be run over. It also means to go through the points of a plan or a text quickly one more time: run over the main points.
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run over + person/animal/thing (hit with a vehicle, often passive); run over + notes/instructions (review quickly)
- A cyclist was run over by a delivery van near the station yesterday.
- Let's run over the main points before the meeting starts.
- Could you run over the instructions one more time? I didn't understand the last step.
What changed
First versionThe dog was run by a car near our house.
RevisionThe dog was run over by a car near our house.
Without the particle over, the meaning of being hit by a vehicle disappears: was run by means 'was managed by', as in the shop is run by a family. So a dog that gets hit by a car was run over by a car, not was run by a car.
Run into means to crash into something ahead of you: She ran into a parked car. Run over means to drive over something already lying on the road: I ran over some broken glass.
Your turn
The car ___ a nail on the way home, and now we have a flat tyre.
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ran over — The nail was lying on the road and the car drove over it, which is ran over. Ran into would describe hitting an obstacle straight ahead, not driving over something flat on the road.
Describe a case from real life or the news where a car drove over something or someone. Say what happened and how it ended.
Last winter a taxi ran over a loose drain cover, and the driver had to stop to check the tyre.
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