fill in/up the form

Forums: English, Esl, Grammar
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According to Times-Chambers English Essential Dictionary, when you fill up a form you write information in the spaces as required: You have to fill up so many forms when you take your car abroad.

I am confused because I was taught that one fills in a form.

Is the dictionary wrong?

Thanks.

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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 2,191 • Replies: 25

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Yes. Fill in a form. (paper)

David

1 Reply

On the other hand,
if you are a carpenter who has made a wooden form (a mold),
you might fill it up with cement.

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

You mean concrete.

2 Replies

@tanguatlay,

Not "fill up". That is almost never seen in this context.

You can fill it in, or even fill it out. They both mean the same thing.

2 Replies

In the American language, one usually fills in a form, or fills out a form--and i would say the latter is more common. I have never heard a speaker of the American language say fill up a form. I'd say that fill up is only used in the physical sense, as in fill up your gas tank, or the stadium filled up with fans.

2 Replies

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

You mean concrete.

Yes; I have been informed (under oath) by a man whose vocation was pouring it (that 's not a stonemason, right ?)
that cement is an ingredient in concrete.

Yet, I manifested a habit from the earliest years of my life,
when we referred to the paved sidewalks of NY City as being "the cement".

(A few years later, when I attained to the age of 8, we went to Arizona, whose natives all referred to it as "the ceement".)

Thanx for the correction.

David

0 Replies

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

You mean concrete.

Of course, in theory, someone coud fill such a form with pure cement,
but we know that is not what we r discussing.

David

0 Replies

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

Not "fill up". That is almost never seen in this context.

You can fill it in, or even fill it out. They both mean the same thing.

True; well said.

David

0 Replies

@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

In the American language, one usually fills in a form, or fills out a form--and i would say the latter is more common. I have never heard a speaker of the American language say fill up a form. I'd say that fill up is only used in the physical sense, as in fill up your gas tank, or the stadium filled up with fans.

YES.

David

0 Replies

@Setanta,

In the American language

URL: http://able2know.org/topic/171471-1

What's that then Navaho? I wouldn't know because we're talking in ENGLISH

0 Replies

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

Not "fill up". That is almost never seen in this context.

"Filling up" a form is old fashioned usage in British English, standard up to the early 20th century. I have seen it in the instructions for completing Victorian official forms.

0 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

Yes.

No. The dictionary is not wrong. OmSigDAVID is a loony.

1 Reply

Merriam-Webster-dot-com provides the following definition of American English:

American English
noun
Definition of AMERICAN ENGLISH
: the English language as spoken in the United States —used especially with the implication that it is clearly distinguishable from British English yet not so divergent as to be a separate language

It gives a date of 1805 for the first use of the term.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

So it's defined as American ENGLISH then, not American? Glad we sorted that one out. Anyway, you do fill in the form usually, but it depends on what you're using the form for. If you were using the form to make a statement, and you needed a second form to complete that statement then you would have filled up the first form as well as filling it in. Basically if you run out of space when filling in a form you fill it up as well.

2 Replies

@izzythepush,

A breathtaking display of arrogant hubris and meaningless gobbledygook. You have sorted nothing, and ignoring your drivel in the future will deprive me of nothing i'd be sorry to lose.

0 Replies

@contrex,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

Yes.

contrex wrote:

No. The dictionary is not wrong. OmSigDAVID is a loony.

I stand by what I said, regardless of u or the moon.

David

1 Reply

@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

So it's defined as American ENGLISH then, not American? Glad we sorted that one out. Anyway, you do fill in the form usually, but it depends on what you're using the form for. If you were using the form to make a statement, and you needed a second form to complete that statement then you would have filled up the first form as well as filling it in. Basically if you run out of space when filling in a form you fill it up as well.

I agree with your reasoning.

WELCOME to the forum, Izzy.

David

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

I stand by what I said

You've been shown to be wrong. Misleading people for fun isn't nice, and you shouldn't do it.

1 Reply

@contrex,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

I stand by what I said

contrex wrote:

You've been shown to be wrong. Misleading people for fun isn't nice, and you shouldn't do it.

Your statement is false and devoid of value.

David

1 Reply

fill in/up the form

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