1

Above and below can be used as both an adverb and an adjective to indicate an earlier or a later part of a piece of writing respectively. However, adjective below is rare compared to adjective above (and mostly not a preferred usage).

OED definitions of the adjective forms:

above:

Mentioned, described, listed, etc., further up on the present page or previously in the text. Cf. above-mentioned adj.

Last two citations from OED:

1959      A. Arnold D. H. Lawrence & Amer. ii. 24         Ten days after the above letter was written, Lawrence learnt of the suppression of The Rainbow by the English authorities.

1990      T. Cunliffe Easy on Helm xiv. 120         Should you be faced with the above horror show.., you'll have to use the single controlling line technique.

below:

Mentioned, described, listed, etc., further down on the present page, or subsequently in the text. Cf. below-mentioned adj.
      rare in comparison with above adj.

Last two citations from OED:

1996       Frank 8 May 3/3       David's many Canadian admirers are invited to visit he and Danielle..at the below address.

2016       M. Sofiev & M. Prank in P. J. Beggs Impacts of Climate Change on Allergens & Allergic Dis. iv. 53      In the below analysis, we shall..make some basic statistics based on meteorological past-time data.

There is also the noun usage of above and below (with "the") with a similar definition.

OED definitions:

above:

Chiefly formal. With the: the preceding passage, paragraph, etc.; the person, thing, or set of things mentioned or discussed in the preceding passage, paragraph, etc.

below:

Chiefly formal. With the: the following passage, paragraph, etc.; the person, thing, or set of things mentioned or discussed in the following passage, paragraph, etc.
     rare in comparison with above n. 3.

Why is the adjective "below" rare compared to adjective "above"? (the noun usage also)

Would it be possible to find a historical reason? Could it be related to how frequently they appeared in publications or influential works? Or, could it be related to the distribution of the adverb senses?

Community
  • 1
ermanen
  • 62,797
  • 1
    Could it be because people normally read documents from beginning to end, so referring to points above makes sense because the reader has already seen those points? Whereas referring to points below is generally more applicable in cases like your examples where the reference is made in an introduction. – nnnnnn Nov 15 '19 at 05:14
  • Note that referring to points below is quite common in email communication because email programs position new replies above the text of the previous email. Long email chains are pretty common in business and government work, but aren't usually made public so aren't available for study or inclusion in word usage statistics. – nnnnnn Nov 15 '19 at 05:26
  • 1
    See https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/74182/above-below-before-after-a-noun?rq=1 . It's more usual to say 'the address below'. – Kate Bunting Nov 15 '19 at 08:46
  • 1
    because saying stuff as 'the below analysis' provokes a response in many native English speakers worse than when they hear a chalkboard screeched... it simply sounds terrible... because it's not actually an adjective – Arm the good guys in America Nov 15 '19 at 09:16
  • @nnnnnn: Interesting approach. I don't think it is related to how we read, it is just used to indicate the position of a text. Introductory/summary statements are quite common and it is not the only place to use it. I appreciate that you are trying to find a reasoning. In your second comment, I believe you meant the adverb usage. – ermanen Nov 15 '19 at 16:42
  • @green_ideas: There is the adjective usage of below but it is rare. It might not sound natural to most as it is rare. However, it is directly comparable to the more common adjective above. I'm trying to find a historical/linguistic reason behind this as it is a just a word referring to a position. – ermanen Nov 15 '19 at 16:47
  • @KateBunting: Yes, I've read that question and I'm asking the historical/linguistic reason behind it. – ermanen Nov 15 '19 at 16:49
  • because resistance to the adjectival usage of 'below' is still strong enough from enough quarters to impede such usage, whereas similar, strong initial resistance to the adjectival use of 'above' has largely been overcome by popular usage...which might well be the fate of 'adjectival below' as well, the argument by analogy being no small thing, in the minds of both non-native and native speakers. come back in 25 years, and then 50, to see how this answer, which posits historical usage, is valid ;) again, it's rare, because to most native speakers it sounds jarring – Arm the good guys in America Nov 16 '19 at 18:25
  • you can trace initial, very strong resistance to adjectival above to its begrudging acceptance to larger acceptance in the usage notes of dictionaries, say those of the 50s, 80s, and 2010s... thus I surmise and have done so for awhile, that adjectival below is in the early stages of this process – Arm the good guys in America Nov 16 '19 at 18:27

0 Answers0