Contributed by AnnaLisa Michalski
Excessive prepositions aren’t uncommon among us English speakers—in fact, English is among the few languages whose speakers find it absolutely necessary to use prepositions at all—but every so often, a prepositional usage will appear that stands out as odd. Our tendency to attach “up” to verbs that don’t need it is one of these instances.
Sometimes up makes a real difference in how a verb functions or what it means. Consider this: Jeanne might get up in the morning then run to 7-11 to get a newspaper. The difference between their meanings, “rise” versus “acquire,” is clear. This is true for other verbs as well: Tom will make an effort to arrive at work early and make up lost time; when we work demanding jobs, we work up an appetite; it would take a lot of nerve to take up skydiving. Obviously dropping the preposition would be a bad idea in these cases.
But it seems lately that people meet up and switch up instead of just meeting or switching. We’ve become more likely to call up a friend on the phone. And we continue as in generations past to wash up, then eat up, drink up, and finish up dessert as well. This tendency to add a meaningless preposition is curious.
An interviewee on the news recently, the owner of a local shop, said he started stocking a particular new product because every once in a while, it’s good to “change up” his merchandise. His word choice, not the product, caught my attention. Here was an example of an up that was more than extraneous; it was wrong. Unless he was talking baseball, the man had surely meant “change,” not “change up.” His extra “up” had gotten him hung up.
Time will tell whether this odd usage becomes even more rooted. For now, though, I wonder: am I the only one who finds it clunky to clutter up sentences with unnecessary prepositions?
About the Author:
AnnaLisa Michalski writes and publishes the ezine Word-wise.
She owns and operates Admin Maven, a virtual assisting service specializing in proofreading and copy editing.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=AnnaLisa_Michalski
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Creeping-Overuse-of-Up&id=579403
Click Here to Subscribe
Entries (RSS)
June 4th, 2007 at 8:53 am
Good post. This is something I will now be more aware of in the future. As stated, drinking up, et al., has become so common, I hadn’t actually thought about it before.
Thanks.
June 4th, 2007 at 9:51 am
Last night I wrote a paragraph and fought with myself over the use of the words “laps up”. I knew it wasn’t grammatically sound, but I convinced myself it was the only way to go. I even felt the need to hyphenate it. See below:
“Lilleth is unbelievable! She’s only nine-years old, but she has been deconstructing Shakespeare since age seven. I can hardly stop her, as she laps-up every word she gets her hands on. When she recites entire monologues from Lady Macbeth, her teacher doesn’t know what to do with her. I mean, I can’t imagine how her little head has any room left because she’s practically fluent in Middle English!â€
Thanks for making me aware!!
June 4th, 2007 at 9:58 am
Actually, Bitsy, “lap up” is correct in your example—though it should not have a hyphen. (Neither should “nine-years.”)
The word “lap” has multiple definitions; for example, a runner can lap another runner on a track. So the “up” does clarify the meaning in this case. Webster’s definition “to take in or absorb eagerly or quickly” also notes “used with up,” so your instincts were right!
June 4th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
In U.K., ‘Doing the washing-up’ has become the standard use in place of ‘Washing the dishes.’ It’s so commonly understood that you don’t even have to mention the word ‘dishes’ or ‘pots and pans’, nor the fact that you’re doing it at the sink. If one wants ones dialogue to sound ‘British’, that could be just one suggestion.
July 6th, 2007 at 7:40 am
I’m sorry to have missed the earlier comments. For some reason this post didn’t show up in my Google Alerts, and I just now stumbled on it by accident!
A belated but heartfelt thanks, Lisa! How exciting to see my article on your site!
Bitsy, I would add one more comment to Lisa’s reply to your paragraph. In this instance, I would agree your “laps up” is absolutely preferable to “laps.” You have intended the verb in a figurative sense, and in that case the up does further clarify and, in fact, create an altogether different verb. Look at the difference:
Figurative: She laps up every word she gets her hands on.
Literal: After a long run in the park, the dog laps water greedily.
In your figurative example, removing up would give an odd picture that doesn’t make much sense whereas including it makes it clear you mean Lilleth is mentally absorbing the words, not, in fact, physically swallowing them. In the literal example, however, adding up will do absolutely nothing to change the meaning or sense of the words. Your up is necessary to convey the appropriate picture; an up in the second example, on the other hand, would be excessive and useless. Go with your instinct–you were right!
Bob, I’m very curious. I’m not familiar with this British usage. If “doing the washing-up” is commonly understood to mean “washing the dishes,” what would be understood if I said I was “doing the washing”? Laundry? Bathing? On a related side-note, there’s an interesting blog observing differences between British and American usages you may enjoy. Here is the latest entry: http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/07/whats-so-difficult-about-water.html