For example, a little bird falls from its nest, can drops be used interchangeably?
Answer Dear Chow Yin They can change over when you are talking about the action of simply descending through the air, but may have a difference when it comes to what caused the ‘descent’. ‘Drop’ implies a bit more control (or volition) than ‘fall’, but once the ground isn’t there, it doesn’t matter much which one you are doing. In the accident, for instance, you fall (or fall over) in the same way that you ‘trip’ – ie, your foot catches and you fall over. You might be able to stop yourself falling completely, but once ‘overbalanced’ you have momentarily lost control. Similarly, people can accidentally fall from (eg) a window or a cliff – they didn’t want to, so it wasn’t ‘under their control’. On the other hand, you can ‘drop to the ground’, meaning that you lie down quickly, such as soldiers do in films when the shooting starts. Or there is the action where you wish to come down from a height which is too far to jump down safely, but you can hold on, lower yourself as far as you can,
