Mini Lesson: Up

By Janice Seagraves

Up like the word down is a direction, but do we really need it in our writing?

Let’s take a closer look:

Example: She stood up.

Do we really need up in this sentence? No, not really. If she stood, then up is a given.

Correct: She stood.

Example: Grandma told Brian to put up his toys. He placed his toy cars on top of the TV, which made grandma angry.

You can see here Brian got confused by what Grandma wanted when she told him “to put up his toys.” Most readers would probably understand what Grandma meant, but to avoid confusion another word choice might work better.

Correct: Grandma told Brian to put away his toys. He placed them in his toy chest.

Example: The cat climbed up the tree.

We can assume that if the cat was climbing, it would climb up, unless you indicate the direction.

Correct: The cat climbed the tree.

Example: She looked up at the tall man.

If the man is tall then we can assume that she was looking up at him, unless of course if she’s taller than the man.

Correct: She looked at the tall man.