Timeline for "Back up data" or "back data up"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
11 events
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| Jun 15, 2020 at 7:40 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Dec 12, 2011 at 1:37 | history | edited | Daniel | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Sep 9, 2011 at 0:12 | comment | added | tdhsmith | @Peter: I think 'verbal particle' is the most appropriate term, but I completely agree with FumbleFingers that attempting to be rigorous is futile (and also highly dependent on what views you have on grammar). I'd also say that I think "back up up the driveway" is acceptable (for me). For example if you coordinate the phrase it seems fine: "I backed up down into a valley and up a hill". You'd think then that you should be fine removing half of the "and" phrase: "I backed up up a hill". Of course it all comes down to personal opinion, and this is just how it sounds to me. | |
| Sep 8, 2011 at 22:33 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @drɱ65 δ: Adverbial up distinguishing it from other back compounds, such as off, down, away, out? They don't seem much like normal adverbs (slowly, very, quite) to me. I think all you can say is that the pair is a phrasal verb (or just a simple verb, if you drop the intervening space). Certainly it's an area where attempting to apply rigorous terminology is likely to end in tears and/or foot-stamping. | |
| Sep 8, 2011 at 20:41 | comment | added | Daniel | BTW, that last comment was 500 chars on the dot. I want to add that when the up is "part of the verb", I think it's technically an adverb. | |
| Sep 8, 2011 at 20:37 | comment | added | Daniel | +1 @Peter Didn't think of that. I would think that it is either, depending on context. It's a preposition when there is a complete prepositional phrase (e.g. I backed the car up the driveway). It's part of the verb when there is no prep. phrase (e.g. I backed up the car). It's the difference between falling down and falling down the hill. So in back up it, the meaning of up depends on what it is referring to. If the car, then it's part of the verb (back up); if the driveway, then it's part of the prep. phrase and therefore a preposition (up the driveway). | |
| Sep 8, 2011 at 20:27 | comment | added | Peter Shor | When you say "back up it", talking about backing your car up your driveway, is "up" a preposition or part of a phrasal verb? (Or both, which I think might be what is going on here. I don't think anybody ever says "back up up the driveway", although they might say "back up into the garage".) | |
| Sep 8, 2011 at 19:47 | history | edited | Daniel | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Sep 8, 2011 at 19:29 | comment | added | tdhsmith | Does anyone have a good resource on phrasal verbs here? That would be useful. Anyway I think you should add that while keeping the "verb" whole is generally more readable with wordier objects, most native speakers must split it when using a pronoun. For example, "I back it up every night" is correct to me but "I back up it every night" feels very wrong. Or at least it does when associating the right (phrasal) meaning. If I said "I back up it every night" where I am talking about my car and it is my steep driveway, that'd be fine. | |
| Sep 8, 2011 at 18:31 | vote | accept | Shawn | ||
| Sep 8, 2011 at 17:51 | history | answered | Daniel | CC BY-SA 3.0 |