 Lcchang wrote: |
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Cut back, cut back on, cut down, cut down on....I was overwhlemed by them. Can someone help explain them?
LC
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As Marius said, these all have the idea of reducing, lessening, making less, making smaller. But I'm not as precise as a dictionary, and would be comfortable using "cut down on" and "cut back on" interchangably in a lot of cases. I'm in the western US, and this may be different in some other places.
Here are some common examples that come to mind:
1. I need to cut back my lemon tree. It is growing too far into my neighbor's yard.
(pruning, trimming trees or plants to make them smaller)
2. I need to cut down my lemon tree. The lemon tree is very sick, and I want to plant an orange tree in that space.
(starting to remove a tree completely; cutting the tree trunk prior to pulling it out of the ground)
3. I need to cut down on calories (or cut back on calories). My favorite pants are getting too tight.
(eating fewer calories)
4. They want to cut down on (or cut back on) expenses this month.
(spending less money)
5. She needed to cut back on (or cut down on) apples when she made that dessert. Her son ate some apples this morning, and there weren't many left.
(using fewer apples than usual when following a recipe)
6. Having more police officers on the street often cuts down on (or cuts back on) crime.
(reducing crime)
7. That company will cut down on (or cut back on) hiring. It had some trouble last year.
(reducing the number of people who are asked to work for the company)