Meaning
- To be reasonable, believable, or consistent.
- To find the total amount by adding numbers together.
- To increase over time or combine to produce a significant effect.
Today's Sentences
01
Ordering extras really adds up.
Situation
Can you check the receipt?
I think they overcharged us.
Let me add it up.
Two burgers, fries, drinks and dessert too.
Right.
I guess I conveniently forgot that part.
Yeah, ordering extras really adds up.
02
That doesn’t add up.
Situation
Hey, who finished the last slice of pizza?
Not me!
I only had two.
Really? There were eight slices, and four of us.
That doesn’t add up.
Okay fine.
I might have “accidentally” eaten another slice.
Writer's Note
"Add up" is an intransitive, transitive, and inseparable phrasal verb.
- Intransitive - An intransitive verb does not need a receiver of the action which can end a sentence on its own.
Structure - "Subject + add up"
Example 1: His story doesn’t add up.
Example 2: The numbers just don’t add up, we must’ve made a mistake.
Example 3: It finally adds up now that I know the truth. - Transitive - Transitive phrasal verbs require an object to complete their meaning, while intransitive ones do not have an object.
Structure - "Subject + add up + object (numbers, amounts, costs, etc.)"
Example 1: Can you add up these receipts for me?
Example 2: She added up all her expenses from the trip.
Example 3: He quickly added up the figures in his head. - Inseparable - When an object cannot be placed between the particle and verb.
Structure - "Subject + add up (to + amount)"
Example 1: Those little expenses add up over time.
Example 2: All the hours she spent practicing really added up to success.
Example 3: The costs add up to more than we expected.
Related words - Accumulate, calculate, compute, correspond, count, equal, make sense, measure up, mount up, tally, total
