http://www.englishforums.com/English/BasicEnglishVocabularyQuestions/Forum44.htmFor Basic English ONLY. Please post only <b><font color=red>easy</font></b> questions and answers here.enXMOD (Build: 3607.32596)http://www.englishforums.com/English/AboutUpAndItsPhrases/wzzcj/post.htm#695435Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:10:28 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:695435Philip0http://www.englishforums.com/English/AboutUpAndItsPhrases/wzzcj/post.htm#695435http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments44-695435.xmlI think you will find that many prepositions are used in idiomatic ways that defy etymological or even logical explanation. As far as I know they simply have to be memorized. Exactly! I think you will most likely not find a list of &quot;up&quot; expressions, so each needs to be learned as an individual vocabulary item. You might start a list of your own that you can review from time to time. mix up, add up, join up, dig up, are a few that come to mind as I write this. {just thought of &quot;write&quot; up}. By the way. Many bi-lingual dictionaries will list these under the heading of the verb itself, but don&#39;t look for them in strictly English dictionaries.http://www.englishforums.com/English/AboutUpAndItsPhrases/wzzcj/post.htm#694351Sat, 04 Apr 2009 16:16:21 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:694351RayH1http://www.englishforums.com/English/AboutUpAndItsPhrases/wzzcj/post.htm#694351http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments44-694351.xmlI think you will find that many prepositions are used in idiomatic ways that defy etymological or even logical explanation. As far as I know they simply have to be memorized.http://www.englishforums.com/English/AboutUpAndItsPhrases/wzzcj/post.htmSat, 04 Apr 2009 07:03:26 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:694221Anonymous2http://www.englishforums.com/English/AboutUpAndItsPhrases/wzzcj/post.htmhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/comments44-694221.xmlNormally, for a non-English speaker, “up” has the implication of “Upward” as opposed to “downward”. So, some verb+proposition phrases, which have evolved for so long that English learners might not be able to comprehend just from literal meanings, do frustrate them.. For example , “let up” “ round up” “set up”. Take “let up”. Up, in this sense, implicates stop doing something. This, I think, may derive from “ Time is up”. But why “UP’? why is it not “over”,or “out”? You see, Time is running out, The sands of time are running out. It dawns on me that It may be related to the ancient timing instrument.------the sandglass. When the sands have run out, you should put the sandglass upside down. Now the sands of time are up, that is...