Phrasal verb
count up
Definition
phrasal verb. to add a group of things or people together to find the total number.
phrasal verb. to calculate the sum of a collection of items or individuals by enumerating them one by one.
Examples
“The teacher counts up the students before the bus leaves.”
“At the end of the night, the shop owner counts up the money in the register to check the profits.”
“After the ballots were collected, the committee spent several hours counting up the votes to ensure the final tally was perfectly accurate.”
Examples
simple
“The teacher counts up the students before the bus leaves.”
contextual
“At the end of the night, the shop owner counts up the money in the register to check the profits.”
complex
“After the ballots were collected, the committee spent several hours counting up the votes to ensure the final tally was perfectly accurate.”
Usage
often used when you have a physical pile of things to check.
Teaching tip
contrast with 'count on' (to rely) or 'count down' (to wait for an event); 'count up' emphasizes the process of reaching a total.
Pitfall
He counts up of the coins.
He counts up the coins.
the verb is transitive and takes the object directly without the preposition 'of'.
Phrasal verb
Particles
up
Separability
optional
Pattern
count + (object) + up
Synonyms
Antonyms
Grammar
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/count-up