As a foreigner, I can attest to the untold troubles that adverbs and
prepositions can cause. But I'm happy to say that I understood all the
uses here, and even noticed that one was missing (UP yours!). Though, I
suppose, that one, although technically a two-letter word, would,
probably, be classified as a "four letter" one :)
From: R.P.
Lovers of the English language might enjoy this.....How do non-natives
ever learn all the nuances of English???
There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any
other two-letter word, and that word is "UP."
It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top
of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP, and why
are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to
write UP a report?
We call UP our friends and we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP
the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock
UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.
At other times the little word has a real special meaning. People stir
up trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP
excuses.
To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. And this
up is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP !
To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP , look the word UP in
the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of
the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP . When the sun
comesout we say it is clearing UP . When it rains, it wets UP the
earth. When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.
If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways
UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give
UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
One could go on & on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so
....
Time to shut UP .....!
Oh...one more thing:
What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you
do at night?
U P
--
Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line:
unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
