About Phrasal Verbs-5 (up / down)

At first it is recommended to read the previous parts:

1. habr.com/en/post/495794
2. habr.com/en/post/496190
4. habr.com/en/post/499368

The value up to the end, completely is expressed (besides given in the first article) by Russian prefixes:

from- / is- : beat - “to beat”, beat up - “to beat”; use - "use", use up - use (some resource to the end): Masha used up all of my shampoo.

from- : build - “build”, build up - “build”; polish - “polish”, polish up - “polish”.

by : hang - “hang”, hang up - “by weight” (handset). Show - “to show / appear”, show up - “to appear”. Vasya showed up on time - Vasya arrived / appeared on time.

atin the sense of approximation [to the standards]: dress - “dress”, dress up - “dress-up” (dress emphasized stylishly or brightly). Masha was dressed up - Masha was dressed up.

Dress out - “dress”, only outdated. In this case, up ≈ out, as in Russian “pri-” ≈ “raz-”: dressed up ≈ dressed up. Up emphasizes the completeness of the wardrobe (outfit), out - contains a still light emotional component of the “exaggeration” of the action - “dress-up”.

Dress up / dress out have innumerable synonyms: tog up = tog out, deck up = deck out, rig up = rig out, fig up = fig out, trick up = trick out. There are even fancy up and gussy up, but with out these verbs are not used. *

It’s important to understand that this whole mountain of synonyms is based on a simple dress up ≈ dress out pattern. Textbooks and dictionaries, unfortunately, dump FG on people almost unsystematically, but it would be necessary to designate BASIC - those that underlie their many synonyms. You look, and they would cease to seem so "illogical". But you can cram up to the end of centuries ...

Actually, any Russian prefixes that mean “to the end, completely” can correspond to up, for each you can find similar examples of FG in English.

The prefix “ sub- ” is interesting because it closely echoes UP in a number of its meanings:

- add (when thrown into a heap, the heap grows up, gets higher): sweeten - “sweeten”, sweeten up - sweeten .

-to maintain at a certain level, not to let it fall : prop - "backup", prop up - sub-piracy.

- push upward by the action : pull - “pull”, pull up - pull-up. Pull up your socks! - Pull your socks up! (pull up in this sense has at least 2 full synonyms - hitch up and hike up). At the same time, it becomes clear why “stopping the car” is also pull up: when the cart was stopped, it was necessary to pull the reins, i.e. to do a “self-pulling” movement. They started talking about cars by inertia. There is also an explanation of why the Russians "get on" the bus and then stand there.

The carriers unanimously shout that in up they often hear the value of approximating. Walk - “walk” (and not “walk” - burn in hell, school teachers !!), the pretext to means “to”, walk up - “to go to”, run up to - “to run to” and etc.

Masha drove up to my house - Masha drove up to my house.

Sneak - sneaking. Vasya sneaked up on me - Vasya sneaked up on me. Only in English they say "to me" and not "to me."

Very similar logic to live up to. Live up to expectations - "live up to expectations." Live up to reputation - "to justify the reputation." Those. “Live” close to expectations, reputation - not lower, at the right level .

It is important to keep in mind that in almost all cultures, the “top” is associated with something positive, strong, top-notch, with an increase in presence, activity. “Bottom” - on the contrary, with a negative, weak, poor-quality (“bottom”, “bottom”), with a decrease in presence, activity. Sometimes this helps to understand FG with up and down, even if there is nothing similar in Russian.

For example, tone down means “reduce intensity” (colors, tones, tensions).

They asked me to tone down my report - I was asked to make the text of my report less rigid.

You should tone up that part of your presentation! “That part of your presentation should be made a little more expressive.”

Down, of course, corresponds to Russian prefixes that convey the corresponding meanings:

-in the meaning of oppression, weakening of the intensity (to dry, take off, cut back): calm - “rest”, as the verb - “rest”, calm down - calm down. Kids, calm down! - Children, y-calm down!

o- in the meaning of downward movement - to settle, lower, collapse: weigh - “burden”, weigh down - o-burden. I was weighed down by guilt - I was weighed down by guilt.

c- in the meaning of moving down: roll - “roll”, roll down - roll.

c- in the meaning of destruction, no information: burn - “burn”, burn down - “burn”. Break - “to break”, break down - to-break.

The combinations in which down means “in distress” / “in a depressed state” are extremely frequent. Be down - to be in this state. Vasya is down may mean that Vasya is depressed or in another distress (no money, for example).

Let - "let go, let go" in the meaning of letting you move (in space, time or any other coordinate system). Let down - “by your actions let someone be in a distressed or depressed state.”

Masha let Vasya down - Masha betrayed / disappointed Vasya. Now Vasya is down.

Get down. Get has a value that has no analogues in Russian. Something like "solve the problem", without specifying in what way. Get Vasya to call me - make Vasya call me (tell him / leave a note / pass it through someone).

This rain gets me down - This rain drives me into a depression (i.e. makes me depressed, in what way - not specified).

British newspapers are very fond of the verb come down on - "fall on."

The government must come down on underage drinking - The government must begin to combat the drinking of minors.

This verb has common synonyms - clamp down on and crack down on: it’s boring to use simple come all the time.
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* I do not recommend using this bunch of synonyms in practice: some of them have never heard media, and dictionaries are confused in the testimony. Dress up is a completely reliable option.