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A reader of TheWritersBag.com submitted a comment yesterday. The request, which I have slightly edited, read:

Could you help me to understand the preposition “up” in some phrasal verbs – I mean verbs such as “clean up,” “open up” and “close up”? I could say just “clean the desk” or “clean the desk up.” What’s the difference?

Regarding “clean the desk” or “clean the desk up,” the first of those phrases has the connotation of cleaning the desk itself – the actual, physical desk – whereas the second phrase implies tidying up items that are on the desk. For example, if the desk itself was layered in dusk and grime, I would hand you a bottle of cleaning solution and say, “Clean the desk!”

But if the desk was piled high with stacks of disorganized papers and butt-ends of hardened pizza slices, I would write, “Clean the desk up.” 

Granted, the actual difference between the two sentences is only a two-letter word. But that puny word makes a huge difference. It’s one of those many subtleties that makes our language tricky – especially for those who did not grow up speaking and writing it.

You’re probably thinking, “He’s avoiding the real issue here: Why use ‘up’ in the phrase at all? It really doesn’t make sense. After all, the basic meaning of the word is ‘at a higher level.’”

You’re right. We look up at the sky. Rocket boosters power NASA capsules up into space. So why use “up” when we’re talking about tidying up a desk? Cleaning a desk up really has nothing to do with “up.” In fact, “down” seems more appropriate.

So why do we do it? Who knows? And when it comes right down to it, who really cares? Like so many of the things we write and say in English, it’s just the way it’s done – even though it flies in the face of logic – and that’s that.

As for the other two phrases the reader mentioned – “open up” and “close up” – the word “up” in both cases is nothing more than extra baggage in most contexts, and should be deleted for the sake of being concise.

Why should anyone have to open or close anything up? Why not just open it or close it and save the extra work? The same goes for “listen up” and several other such phrases.

That said, please understand that the word “up” is completely legitimate and even necessary in many phrases, such as …

• throw up
• line up
• lighten up
• brighten up
• ante up
• mess up
• dress up

True to our language’s devil-may-care stance on logic, some of these legitimate “up” phrases make sense, even if just a little, while others don’t at all. But hey, if you wanted hard, reliable logic, you’d be studying mathematics – not writing.

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