"Add up" is a phrasal verb that means "to make sense", "reasonable" or "plausible". Let's define what a phrasal verb is: verb + preposition or verb + adverb, when put together does not have the original meaning of the verb.
Outside of being a phrasal verb, the verb add, literally means:
- to combine, put together, join to result in a final value. For example: Adding 2 and 2 results in 4. Adding 3 and 6 and 1 results in 10, etc.
- to unite or join together to increase in quantity, size or quality: My Mom added more food to my plate (quantity); the boy added more air to his balloon making it bigger (size); the two-toned red and light brown shoes added elegance and glamor (quality) to them.
Up outside of a phrasal verb and as an adverb, means:
- a higher position
- above a surface
- something going in the opposite direction against gravity
- etc.
* For more clarity and meaning, read the definitions in an English dictionary.
When the preposition up is joined to the verb add - add up - the meaning changes, creating a phrasal verb. The English language is full of thousands of phrasal verbs, which when used in speech, make a person sound more fluent, whose native language is not English.
However, phrasal verbs can be confusing to non-native English speakers, because the meaning is different than the original meaning of both the verb and the preposition or adverb. The phrasal verb takes on a new meaning.
Examples of the phrasal verb, ADD UP, in sentences:
- Hey, Bill! The figures in the new budget don't add up.
- Something just doesn't add up, because Norman's bed hasn't been slept in for days.
- The witness's testimony adds up with the facts.
- The math student added up the numbers in the equation.
The best thing to do is listen to how a phrasal verb is used in different contexts and then start using it. Or for some, googling "phrasal verbs in English", to find lists with the meanings of phrasal verbs, memorize them, and then use them, can be of help.
Hearing, associating the meaning in their context and speaking, is the best way to learn how to use phrasal verbs.
In the next few weeks, we will talk more about phrasal verbs.
You are that much closer to speaking effective American English!
