<pre> 
&lt;html>
&lt;style>
div#A   {position:absolute; border-style:dotted ; border-color:#000000 ; 
         border-width:2px; width:450px ; left: 100px; padding:5px  }
p       {border-style:solid ; border-color:#000000 ; border-width:2px;
         padding:5px ; width:300px ; background-color:#FFFFFF }
p#two   {position:relative ; left:225px ; top:-35px; background-color:#CCCCCC }  
&lt;/style>

&lt;h2> Absolute then Relative &lt;/h2>
&lt;div id="A">

&lt;p>          This is the content of paragraph &lt;b>one&lt;/b>.  It is positioned normally &lt;/p>
&lt;p id="two"> This is the content of paragraph &lt;b>two&lt;/b>.  It is positioned relative to where 
             it would have been inside the parent div element &lt;/p> 
&lt;p>          Paragraph &lt;b>three&lt;/b> &lt;u>will not&lt;/u> repositioned to occupy the empty space&lt;/p> 

&lt;/div>

&lt;/html></pre>