The Tyranny of "Up"

The word “up” is a parasite, an invader, a tyrant. It latches on to other words, dilutes meaning and leads to unimaginative sentences. It also brings baggage, usually dragging “with” or “of” along for the ride. It makes you think it is needed, but it almost always is not. Unless you are describing a direction or a position relative to something that is “down”, then ignore it. When adding “up” to other words to make a phrase, you must often qualify it with yet more words. By eliminating “up phrases” you will use less words to express the same meaning, and often with greater impact.

When “up” attaches itself to other words, it rarely adds extra information, meaning or value. It is usually better not to include it, or even to drop the entire phrase altogether in favour of a more meaningful one. Even a sentence like, “The bird flew up into the sky”, can be expressed with no loss of information by removing “up”: “The bird flew into the sky”.

Let’s have a look at five common “up phrases”.

1) Meet up

This is possibly the worst offender, it is a completely unnecessary phrase. Not only is the word “meet” capable of carrying the meaning on its own, but when “up” is added, you must usually include “with”, further inflating the sentence. Consider:

I went into town to meet up with my friends.

I went into town to meet my friends.

Let’s meet up.

Let’s meet.

If you want to describe the object of the meeting, notice that you must add “with” if you write “up” after meet or met, but it is optional if you do not write “up”.

We should meet up with John and Jane.

I had a great time at the awards ceremony, I even met up with some celebrities!

And not:

We should meet up John and Jane

I had a great time at the awards ceremony, I even met up some celebrities!

However, you can write:

We should meet John and Jane

I had a great time at the awards ceremony, I even met some celebrities!

And:

We should meet with John and Jane

I had a great time at the awards ceremony, I even met with some celebrities!

2) Team up and join up

When the phrase team up is used, it usually means that people are working together to achieve something, whether work or play.

This week we’re going to team up with the marketing department.

This week we’re working with the marketing department.

Join up

Our online social club has lots of interesting members, why don’t you join up?

Our online social club has lots of interesting members, why don’t you join?

The second sentence can also be rewritten in ways that the first sentence cannot.

Why don’t you join our online social club? It has lots of interesting members.

You should join our online social club, it has lots of interesting members.

Join our online social club, it has lots of interesting members.

3) Made up

This is often used to mean comprised, fabricated, invented, untrue or imagined. While this is not the worst example of attaching “up” to a word, it is also not particularly interesting to read.

By limiting the use of “up phrases” like these, your writing is more forceful.

When questioned under oath, the defendant admitted the statement was made up.

When questioned under oath, the defendant admitted the statement was a lie.

Or less ambiguous:

They made up a tasty lunch.

They made a tasty lunch. (It was real.)

They imagined a tasty lunch. (It did not exist.)

Eliminate up, eliminate the baggage. In the sentence below, “made up of” is replaced by a single word. Here, writing “up” necessitates writing “of”, or the sentence’s meaning falls apart.

When a quotation is presented as a single sentence made up of material from two or more original sentences, ellipses should be used for all omitted segments.

When a quotation is presented as a single sentence using material from two or more original sentences, ellipses should be used for all omitted segments.

4) First up and next up

“First up” is an illogical construction, if we start with this phrase, should we also be expected to continue with “second up”, then “third up”, and so on? (This is also relevant to “firstly”, it is better to simply write “first”, especially if you have multiple points, otherwise you will find yourself writing fifthly, sixthly, seventhly….)

First up, we have a presentation, then a speech from our director.

First, we have a presentation, then a speech from our director.

Next up

Similar to “first up”, there is zero value or added meaning by writing “up”.

Next up, is a performance by the local choir.

Next, is a performance by the local choir.

5) Measure up

Measure up is often used instead of the word “compare”, or to be held against an existing level of quality or expectation, as in:

He wasn’t sure how he would measure up to the rest of the team.

He wasn't sure how he would compare to the rest of the team.

She hoped her writing would measure up.

She hoped her writing would suffice.

There are many more “up phrases” in common usage that slip by unnoticed in speech, but for the writer, it can lead to lazy or unimaginative writing. If you want your text to be noticed, try to think your way around the everyday phrases that we say without thinking.

For a comprehensive list of the ways “up” is used in phrases, see: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/up

Why not see how many examples you could rewrite without using the word “up”.