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I've noticed that he word "up" seems to be one of the most common "extra words" used in short English phrases. Some examples are:

  • Look up
  • Shut up
  • Finish up

Another one is "over" as in:

  • turn over
  • look over
  • come over

Is there a part of speech name for these types of "extra" words? I call them "extra" because they don't seem to change the meaning of the word that precedes it. "Turn over" seems to be redundant as when you turn something, you see the "over" or other side. Are these words nouns, prepositions, or what?

DanF
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  • Those particular "extra" words are prepositions. – Drew Jan 03 '17 at 22:45
  • So you think that "turn over" and "turn around" mean the same thing? – Hot Licks Jan 03 '17 at 22:50
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    Hi @Drew. I thought prepositions are part of a phrase usually followed by an object, as in "up a tree". These words don't have an object as in "look up". Besides, in a phrae like that, it is not referring to the direction, "up". "Look up" means "find" or "research". – DanF Jan 03 '17 at 22:51
  • And they don’t seem “extraneous” to me. They have a purpose. If I just told you to, “Shut” you’d wonder what I meant. – Jim Jan 03 '17 at 22:51
  • @HotLicks Of course not. Good point; I should edit what I said. There are different ways to turn. – DanF Jan 03 '17 at 22:53
  • And note that "around" is another one of your "extra" words -- "turn around", "look around", "come around". But in each case the sense of the associated word is changed. – Hot Licks Jan 03 '17 at 22:58
  • I missed this thread about turn over vs. turn around. I started my post prior to seeing it. Sorry. – MikeJRamsey56 Jan 03 '17 at 23:00
  • Of all your examples above, "finish up" is the only one where the preposition is reasonably redundant. – Hot Licks Jan 03 '17 at 23:02
  • Most of the examples here are phrasal verbs. Take a look at http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/112646/difference-between-verbpreposition-and-phrasal-verbs. The "extra" prepositions shift the meaning of the main verb. – rajah9 Jan 03 '17 at 23:06
  • @rajah9 I've accepted this question as being a duplicate. The other one answers my question, exactly. Thanks for your comment. – DanF Jan 03 '17 at 23:10
  • The question is confused. Though certain senses here may use what seem to be unnecessary words (finish up is largely synonymous with finish in certain circumstances), sentences need to be given as examples because of the highly polysemous nature of most of these strings. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 04 '17 at 00:14
  • It's called Pleonasm – Howdy Aug 23 '22 at 17:50

1 Answers1

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Turn over is not the same as turn around. When you see someone turn their car around you don't see the bottom of their car (unless they do it very fast!). Shut up may refer to raising your chin to close your mouth. With finish up up (or off) is sometimes added for emphasis; to emphasize either the end of a long task or the abrupt end of a task.

Your question might be more appropriate on English Language Learners. I recommend that you search your question there.

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