1Although dictionaries disagree on what to call up to – a preposition (Collins, Merriam-Webster), a phrase up to X (Cobuild), an idiom up to something under the adverb up (Oxford Advanced Learner’s), an idiom and/or an adverb up to (Cambridge) – they do agree on an overall set of meanings and uses, such as:
|
(1)
|
He was up to his knees in water. (Collins)
|
As far as + a part of the body
|
|
(2)
|
Read up to page 100. (Oxford Advanced Learner’s)
|
As far as + a specified point (page, person…)
|
|
(3)
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Up to now (Oxford Advanced Learner’s)
|
Until, up until
|
|
(4)
|
It could be up to two years before the process is complete. (Cobuild)
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As many as, attainment, magnitude of something
|
|
(5)
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Those patients who were up to it could move to the adjacent pool. (Cobuild)
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Physically or mentally capable of, well enough to, with adequate powers or ability for
|
|
(6)
|
I hope you’re not up to any tricks. (Collins)
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Aware of
|
|
(7)
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It is not up to much. (Cobuild)
|
Of poor quality
|
|
(8)
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Her latest book isn’t up to her usual standard. (Oxford Advanced Learners’s)
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Comparable with, as high as
|
|
(9)
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Why did you need a room unless you were up to something? (Cobuild)
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Doing something, especially something bad, contriving, scheming or devising something you should not be doing
|
|
(10)
|
It was up to him to make it right. (Collins)
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Dependent or incumbent upon one’s responsibility
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2This paper focuses on the uses of be up to associated with examples (5)-(10), which correspond to a different (be) up to than in the first four examples. Indeed, as is classic in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) as well as in dictionaries (especially those mentioning the etymology of the lexemes), a distinction is made between prepositions of movement, accompanying verbs of motion and expressing a stage to be attained, and prepositions of location, accompanying stative verbs and expressing a position in space or time, or a state. Up is no exception. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the ‘as far as/until/as many as’ up to builds on up1 < upp, up, an adverb denoting spatial / temporal / abstract movement, whereas the ‘capable / comparable / dependent’ up to builds on up2 < uppe (itself a derivation of upp/up), an adverb denoting a spatial / temporal / abstract position. This second up to which originated from a static location adverb went on to take meanings that do not seem to have anything, or a lot, to do with space, time or a figuratively elevated position. It also seems closer to expressions which may co-occur with it in a given sentence, for example:
(11) Are we up to the task–are we equal to the challenge? Are we willing to match the Russian sacrifice of the present for the future–or must we sacrifice our future in order to enjoy the present? (J. F. Kennedy, “New Frontier Speech”, July 15 1960)
3The objective of this paper is to characterize the expression X be up to Y originating from this second up to, so as to determine which place it occupies within the syntactic and semantic network of aspectual-modal idioms like BE + ADJ phrases such as be equal to + NP or semi-modal auxiliaries like be willing to + V-INF.
4To delineate the frontiers between X be up to Y and these expressions, one must first know the syntactic and semantic contours of be up to in contemporary English. The first part of this paper provides the first corpus-based characterization of a family of X be up to Y constructions (to our knowledge); the second part explains how they are semantically related before comparing them to other aspectual-modal idioms in order to discuss the status of up and to in the constructions.
- 1 The purely descriptive characterization of the occurrences of be up to in the corpus was done by An (...)
5The reason for a corpus-based description of X be up to Y is two-fold:
● First, to confirm that it is indeed justified to separate the two up to as the OED does, or at least to identify a very distinct use of be up to: we1 therefore expected to find a higher proportion of occurrences of be up to in the meanings corresponding to examples (5)-(10), and few or fewer examples of be up to + body part / page number / time / stage / person.
● Second, to identify contextual elements that allow the speaker and addressee to differentiate between the various meanings of X be up to Y.
6This description relies on the study of the occurrences of be up to and be * up to from the two most recent years (2018 and 2019) in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) (Davies 2008).
7It was possible to restrict the data to two years only once the extreme stability of be (*) up to’s frequency in the corpus over 10 years (2010-2019) and across genres (ACAD, FIC, MAG, MOV, NEWS, SPOK, TV) was confirmed:
8Table 1: Occurrences of BE (*) UP TO in the COCA between 2010 and 2019
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
2013
|
2014
|
2015
|
2016
|
2017
|
2018
|
2019
|
Average (excluding 2012)
|
|
BE UP TO
|
491
|
528
|
6264
|
536
|
516
|
529
|
547
|
530
|
547
|
540
|
529
|
|
ACAD
|
27
|
42
|
29
|
17
|
21
|
14
|
16
|
20
|
17
|
25
|
22
|
|
BLOG
|
0
|
0
|
3158
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
FIC
|
79
|
62
|
103
|
97
|
95
|
100
|
90
|
80
|
91
|
92
|
87
|
|
MAG
|
62
|
73
|
74
|
68
|
65
|
80
|
89
|
90
|
84
|
70
|
76
|
|
MOV
|
160
|
172
|
185
|
169
|
161
|
145
|
179
|
155
|
160
|
147
|
161
|
|
NEWS
|
79
|
71
|
61
|
72
|
67
|
96
|
66
|
73
|
82
|
82
|
76
|
|
SPOK
|
84
|
108
|
115
|
113
|
107
|
94
|
107
|
112
|
113
|
124
|
107
|
|
TV
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
WEB
|
0
|
0
|
2539
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
BE * UP TO
|
111
|
138
|
1280
|
114
|
111
|
117
|
125
|
129
|
125
|
121
|
121
|
|
ACAD
|
4
|
9
|
5
|
6
|
3
|
2
|
4
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
|
BLOG
|
0
|
0
|
655
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
FIC
|
24
|
21
|
15
|
20
|
18
|
22
|
23
|
22
|
16
|
16
|
20
|
|
MAG
|
22
|
11
|
10
|
13
|
6
|
11
|
10
|
11
|
20
|
13
|
13
|
|
MOV
|
17
|
25
|
15
|
12
|
26
|
14
|
28
|
22
|
25
|
32
|
22
|
|
NEWS
|
4
|
8
|
9
|
12
|
12
|
15
|
12
|
8
|
13
|
10
|
10
|
|
SPOK
|
17
|
37
|
18
|
20
|
21
|
32
|
18
|
27
|
25
|
32
|
25
|
|
TV
|
23
|
27
|
36
|
31
|
25
|
21
|
30
|
38
|
25
|
17
|
26
|
|
WEB
|
0
|
0
|
517
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
9The year 2012 is a statistical anomaly due to the inclusion of the BLOG and WEB sections, apparently prolific in occurrences of be up to, but which do not seem to have been used before or after 2012.
10The two searches made in the COCA were: _vb up to and _vb * up to (_vb = lemma BE, to include all finite and non-finite forms of the verb). The second search was added to identify cases of negation between be and up to, as in was not up to, as well as verb-subject inversions, as in what are you up to?. There might be occurrences with two or more items between be and up to that rightly belong to the description of be up to (like adverbs : is entirely up to…), but the likelihood of them being occurrences of be up to and not, among other possibilities, be + V-ING up to – a phrasal verb with up (are shaping up to … / are waking up to ….) or a prepositional verb (are walking up to… / am going up to…) in the progressive aspect – was deemed too low to be included in the present search.
11The retrieved occurrences were then manually analyzed according to these criteria, with first, a syntactic and referential description of the immediate co-text:
● SENTENCE or CLAUSE TYPE + NEGATION: independent, main, subordinate; nominal, adverbial, adjectival; interrogative, content (that), content (zero), relative, adverbial in “if”, gerund; imperative
● SUBJECT of BE: category (NP: DET + CN or PN, pronoun; clause: clause-type; coordinated NP or clauses), definiteness (definite or indefinite), determiner or pronoun (if subject = NP), type of referent (person or non-person)
● COMPLEMENT of TO/UP TO: category (NP: DET + CN or PN, pronoun; clause: clause-type; coordinated NP or clauses), definiteness (definite or indefinite), determiner or pronoun (if complement = NP), type of referent (person or non-person), relevant noun (in the NP or in some clauses), connotations (positive, negative, neutral) and lexical / contextual clues of the connotation.
12At this stage, it was possible to eliminate the few occurrences of be up to that did not correspond to one of the four meanings of up to2 by the quick observation of a complement denoting a body part, a spatial / temporal / quantifying expression (exclusion of up to1, from up1).
13A second reading of the occurrences served to determine the meaning of the occurrence of be up to under study. The labels used were inspired by the OED’s, in the hope that they would be easy guides to analyze the occurrences:
● 19.a i) Able to, fit or qualified for; capable of; ii) Well aware of and prepared for; iii) Expert of or well-versed in ; iv) Ready for
● 19.b i) Equal in quality or quantity to; on a level with; ii) Not up to much, of no great ability, importance, or worth
● 19.c Engaged in or bent on (some activity, esp. of a reprehensible nature)
● 19.d Obligatory or incumbent upon
14Because some examples were less transparent than expected, we had to look for markers that would help distinguish between two close meanings, but also sub-divide one meaning into two related ones, as will now be presented in the analysis of the data.
- 2 X and Y only denote slots to be filled, not a certain set of properties that would be different in (...)
15The analysis of the occurrences shows very strong associations between a given meaning of X be up to Y and a certain syntactic and semantic-referential pattern, confirming that the polysemy of X be up to Y is no hindrance to communication, and that understanding which of these distinct meanings is meant is not left to chance or context of communication only. It also shows degrees of lexicalization of some combinations of be up to Y, in the sense that they may be more or less closely connected, sometimes becoming a single unit and losing their former syntactic status as a syntagma, predicate or clause to become a new lexical unit (Lipka et al. 1994). All of these characteristics tend to confirm the existence of four distinct X be up to Y constructions, defined in Construction Grammars as stored “pairings of form with semantic or discourse function, including morphemes or words, idioms, partially lexically filled and fully abstract phrasal patterns” which, when a verb is involved, place emphasis on “subtle aspects of the way we conceive of events and states of affairs” (Goldberg 2003, 219). To use Fillmore’s (1988, 41) office metaphor, each X be up to Y construction has a stabilized set of lexical, semantic-referential and sometimes syntactic features for the items (here, incumbents) instantiating the X and Y positions – making X be up to Y a partially schematic complex construction (Puckica 2007, 71); each set differs from one X be up to Y construction2 to the other and corresponds to a distinct semantic function of X and Y in order to bring about the construction’s overall meaning, which has to do with aspectual-modal comments.
16The rest of this section consists in the presentation of the main features of the X be up to Y constructions from the analysis of 1142 occurrences of be up to (excluding all irrelevant meanings).
17Even though this meaning comes in second place in the OED’s list of definitions, it is the one closest to the spatial / temporal / metaphorical meaning of up to1, in that it seems to be the static, resultative equivalent of a movement towards a higher stage. It is also the one with the lowest number of occurrences: 60 / 1142 occurrences, which could suggest it is a highly specialized and restricted construction.
18Prototypical examples of this use would be:
(12) The house is not up to par for visitors, I'm afraid. (COCA:2018:SPOK ABC_GMA)
(13) But Engel's bat wasn’t up to the level of his defense. (COCA:2018:NEWS Chicago Sun-Times)
(14) ‘The crisis negotiators, they're waiting for you.’ ‘Are they up to speed?’ (COCA:2018:TV FBI)
(15) we do briefings to our cabinet members on certain topics and to ensure that they are up to date (COCA:2019:ACAD Health Research Policy Systems)
(16) I hope everything is up to your standards, Mr. Jakeman. (COCA:2018:TV Blindspot)
(17) Hence, I must be up to the role and the responsibility that was entrusted to me. (COCA:2019:FIC MassachRev)
19With this meaning of X be up to Y, there is no constraint on the subject: there is no significant specialization in the reference to a person or a non-person (27 vs. 34 occ.), and although 3 times out of 4 the subject is definite (definite determiner or pronoun) or at least specific and identified (proper names), the construction still allows for a few indefinite subjects in the form of everything or all/Ø + common noun. What is more interesting is the ‘personal’ perspective involved in this use of be up to: out of the 21 definite pronouns, all but one are personal pronouns (plus one demonstrative pronoun this) and more than half of the common noun phrases have a determiner in the genitive case (possessive determiner or NP’s determiner).
20On the other hand, the element following up to is highly constrained: it systematically refers to a non-person (100%), which is almost always expressed in the form of a noun phrase (97%) which is zero-indefinite (95%) or the-definite (5%), around a limited set of common nouns:
● Ø + capacity / code / date / par / scratch / snuff / specifications / speed / standard
● THE + competition / level / minute / role and responsibility / (usual) standards / scale of the challenge
- 3 Reviewer B suggests that up to par might be on its way to becoming lexicalized as well. It might ve (...)
21While the combination of the + N could be an open class, the combination of Ø + N seems closed, or a lot less open. The Ø version also loosens its connection to the context of utterance as it can be used as a set phrase in any context in which a code or a standard is required without specifying which, whereas the the-version will be expanded with (and in fact licensed by) a post-head dependent relevant to the context of utterance. This set-phrase property of Ø + N could be the start of a lexicalization process for some of these combinations, in the sense that the idiom will gradually be adopted, as a whole, as part of the English lexicon and “similar in status to unanalysable simplex words” (Hohenhaus 2005, 356). One of these has already undergone this process: up to date, or up-to-date, has reached adjective status and can be used in attributive function (the up-to-date version) (see 2.4.)3. The gradual detachment from the context (genericness) is also described as fostering the institutionalization of the term, that is, its adoption as a lexical norm in the speech community (Hohenhaus 2005, 361).
22Very striking is the association of the “is equal to” meaning of X be up to Y with the idea of a limitation: if only a third of the occurrences contains explicit negation on be, be up to also occurs in interrogative clauses or adverbials of condition in if or whether … or not, as well as in content clauses (in that or zero) following expressions of doubt or intention, possibly expressing negation: to make sure, to assure, to hope, to ensure, not certain that…, to show, don’t think…, not sure…, no one believed…., modals must or will, etc. It appears that this use of be up to favours contexts in which the property of being equal to a certain level is less frequently asserted than negated, doubted or suspended (virtual).
23The “aptitude” meaning of be up to identified in the OED is rather broad as it encompasses various properties of the agent (or agent-adjacent) in a situation, from their physical, mental or emotional ability to be a participant in a situation to their willingness or readiness to do so, as represented in these examples:
(18) From what I’ve been told, I’m convinced that I could travel the length and breadth of Cork County and not find a better fighting man. But what do you think, yourself? Would you be up to the job? (COCA:2018:FIC Ploughshares)
(19) He’s got to up his game. […] But the narrative is that maybe it's not his time and that he’s not up to the task. (COCA:2019:SPOK CBS_FaceNation)
(20) “Is Mom going to church?” “I don't think she is up to it.” “But she never misses church.” “Are you feeling better?” (COCA:2018:TV Young Sheldon)
(21) Millie softens and says, “Yes, come ahead, Annie. But I'm not well, so it's just for one night.” # Charlie hears that Annie is on her way and says, “Are you up to this? Really? I'll stay if you need me, or want me, but otherwise I’m not up to this.” And, full of guilt but with Millie’s blessing, he leaves to spend the night at his sister’s house. # Annie arrives after dinner (COCA:2018:FIC NewYorker)
(22) Some Are Already Leading a Low-Carbon Life. The Guardian explains: “Some want a clear conscience. Others want to see if they are up to the challenge. But none of them want to wait until 2050 to cut their carbon emissions down to near-zero.” (COCA:2019:NEWS Minneapolis Star Tribune)
(23) Powell knows the debt game with much more nuance than Trump, but his current job may require him to be a pugilist, to defend his territory aggressively. And the signs thus far are that he may not be up to it. (COCA:2019:MAG Vanity Fair)
24Like the “equal” meaning, the “aptitude” meaning of be up to was not found very frequently in the data – 87/1142 occurrences – but it is characterized by very homogeneous elements in subject and complement positions.
2598% of the subjects of be up to with an aptitude meaning refer to a person, mostly with a definite noun phrase or a proper noun (86%), instantiated more than half the time by a personal pronoun (65%). This correlates to all NP complements having a non-person referent and all being definite. The NPs are either determined by the, followed by a limited number of common nouns: challenge, fight, job, mission, task, testimony, thing; or they contain the pronouns it or this. Interestingly enough, when analysing all the occurrences of be up to it/this, we found that be up to it is almost always associated with this “aptitude” meaning (92%), followed by be up to this (86%), so that an (imperfect) double correlation between be up to it/this and aptitude could be drawn. The frequent use of proximal this, as opposed to distal that, can be explained by its deictic values: the sentences containing be up to this evaluate someone’s aptitude to fulfil a task that is salient or ongoing in the situation of utterance (proximity to the speaker and the situation of utterance) or that will take place later (‘cataphoric’ or, at least, anticipatory value of this, as opposed to the ‘anaphoric’, summarizing value of that) (Cotte 1997, 185-194).
26As with the “equal” meaning, the “aptitude” meaning of X be up to Y occurs more than half the time in negative or interrogative clauses (53%), as well as in subordinate clauses involving uncertainty, hopes and beliefs, the need to prove that the aptitude is confirmed, so that the aptitude is doubted, negated or in need of confirmation rather than asserted.
27Because of these common characteristics with the “equal” meaning of X be up to Y, added to their low frequency in the data, it is possible to believe that they should be grouped together under one single meaning, each forming a sub-group. The “aptitude” meaning could represent the properties inherent to the person who has to achieve something, whereas the “equal” meaning could denote the resulting level indeed achieved (regardless of whether the subject represents the achievement, a property or the achiever). Still, it is not just because the OED has two different entries for these be up to that it was decided to distinguish them in the analysis; it is because the differences in their syntactic and referential properties correlate with a shift from the properties of the result to the properties of an agent (the subject of be) and thus could indicate a gradient in the expression of a level compared to another one, and a subject’s property with respect to an action to perform, indicative of root modality. Even if one were to group these two be up to, their total number of occurrences would still be a small fraction of the occurrences of be up to present in the data (12.9%). The third use of X be up to Y comes with more than double that number of occurrences.
28This third use of be up to is process-oriented. With 360 occurrences, it makes up a third of the data on be up to. The analysis of its co-text suggests it is relevant to create such a category, since its syntactic and referential properties are distinct from the other categories of meaning; however, many examples of process-oriented be up to seem to fall into two sub-groups.
(24) ‘So, what are you up to?’ ‘Well, I'm, uh, uh, living in, on the Staten Island.’ ‘Aha.’ ‘And things are going very, very, very good.’ (COCA:2019:TV What We Do in the Shadows)
(25) ‘So, I don’t know what you’re up to tonight but, um... so, me and the boys are heading to Lucky’s to play some pool and... I don't know if you... want to go.’ (COCA:2019:MOV Only Mine)
(26) ‘Go ahead, Slimybuns, what’s the problem?’ ‘It’s Barf, he's recruited Bigsnot as his minion and they’re up to no good. They're planning bad things.’ (COCA:2018:MOV Sea Monsters 2)
(27) You have organizations that are doing really great things, but other sectors don’t know about it, Schultz said. Schools might not know what the city is doing, or businesses don’t know what the schools are up to, and we want to make sure everyone is working together. (COCA:2019:NEWS Minneapolis Star Tribune)
(28) ‘So what are you up to, Sonny?’ ‘Nothing special. I’ve been trying to look for a job.’ (COCA:2019:MOV American Dream)
(29) I mean, obviously, I knew you guys were up to something when I saw both the mics that you had the cops plant here. You clearly wanted a confession out of me, so you could clear Sean's name. (COCA:2019:MOV A Simple Favor)
(30) My cousin’s eyebrow showed me he was up to no good. (COCA:2018:FIC Confrontation)
29These occurrences of be up to have an overwhelmingly person-denoting (94%), definite (85%) subject, mostly instantiated by a personal pronoun (73%): the personal pronoun you accounts for more than a third of the subjects in this category. As with the “aptitude” be up to, the complement is a non-person, but this time it is almost always indefinite (95%) and mainly restricted to pronouns, with what(ever) being used 3 times out of 4. Again, there seems to be a double correlation between this meaning and this marker, as every time what occurs in an NP complement of be up to, the occurrence is understood as having this process-oriented meaning.
30The frequent use of what correlates to the frequent use of an interrogative clause (66%), making what are you up to? the most typical example of this category. Also very frequent in the corpus are expressions of cognitive processes around the use of be up to: the speaker asks someone what they are up to, or tries to determine who is up to what, or analyses what someone is doing or about to do based on what can be observed in the situation of utterance. Many occurrences of this be up to occur in a subordinate clause functioning as complement of verbs such as know ((25), (27) and (29)), ask, be no doubt, be not sure, catch onto, check, confirm, conclude, determine, feel, figure out, find out, guess, indicate, learn, mean, realize, reveal, see, show (example 30), think, understand, wonder, work out… or in a subordinate clause complementing nouns like conclusion, intel, mindset, proof or question (31). There can also be an adverb used to contrast a previous evaluation of the situation with the current conclusion ((31), really) or even a modal auxiliary ((32), must). Sometimes, the word indicating the cognitive process is not syntactically related to be up to, and rather occurs in the next or previous sentence ((33), look at this, you see…; (34), it all clicked). All the elements contribute to making some occurrences of be up to the conclusion of an epistemic, sometimes evidential, evaluation.
(31) And yet, there were questions about what the oil giant was really up to. (COCA:2019:SPOK NPR_ATC)
(32) That was odd. They must be up to something. (COCA:2018:FIC Fan Fic)
(33) You see this shit? Look at it. Look at this. You see how she’s dressed? All right, that woman has a sugar daddy or she’s up to something. (COCA:2019:MOV The Kitchen)
(34) My dress (a Sebastian original) was tighter in the bodice and poofier in the skirt than usual. I took one look in the mirror and it all clicked. # Grandmere was up to something. (COCA:2019:FIC Fan Fic)
31These lexical elements expressing a cognitive process are particularly relevant for one sub-group within the process-oriented be up to. Indeed, it is possible to argue, as the OED entry indicates (“engaged in / bent on”), in favour of a distinction between performing an action (for itself) and performing an action as a step towards an ulterior motive. The two groups seem to be almost evenly distributed (57% action in itself, 43% ulterior motive), but it is obvious that since they share the same subject-complement properties (see above) that justified keeping them both in one “engaged in / bent on” X be up to Y construction, ambiguity and alternative interpretations are bound to arise. In order to confirm that an occurrence belongs to either one of these sub-groups, one may rely on paraphrase as well as co-textual and contextual clues – which remain clues and do not force the interpretation either way.
● The “action in itself” sub-group corresponds to a paraphrase of do combined with the progressive aspect (be doing, have been doing, will be doing). Example (27) could be paraphrased by businesses don't know what the schools are doing, which would mirror the previous clause Schools might not know what the city is doing. The co-occurrence of BE -ING or HAVE -EN in the excerpt (I’ve been trying to, (28)), deictic adverbials (tonight, (25)), the succession of narrated events or HAVE -EN on be in have been up to (90%) could also indicate a focus on an action performed for itself. Unlike the “equal to” and “aptitude” meanings of be up to, in the “engaged in / bent on” meaning, the realization of the action is very often asserted (be up to occurs in declarative sentences) or presupposed (in What interrogatives).
● The “future event” or “ulterior motive” sub-group is more adequately paraphrased with verbs indicating a second step and an intention, such as be trying to achieve, be planning / plotting, intending… These verbs may also occur in the co-text, as in (26) (they’re up to no good. They’re planning bad things) or (29) (I knew…when I saw… you clearly wanted a confession out of me, so that…). In (30), it is the context and personal knowledge of the situation or the participants (the meaning behind the movement of someone’s eyebrows) that suggests something is yet to come and is the main cause for concern – the speaker does not worry about his cousin raising his eyebrows, instead they worry about what the eyebrows mean, like a grand plan, some future action that the eyebrows announce.
- 4 See Cowie et al. (1975, 21), for whom the combination of be + up + to is negatively connoted in 3 d (...)
32The “ulterior motive” interpretation is often associated with negative connotations. Dictionaries usually have an entry for “scheming, devising” and their example is the suspicious be up to something or the definitive be up to no good; the OED does not make it an obligatory feature of the meaning (“some activity, esp. of a reprehensible nature”) but it is not trivial that it should be mentioned. It could be that since negation or non-assertion is so pervasive in the other meanings (not equal to the challenge, not able to do it), lexicographers would assume that be up to for an action being performed should have a negative feature as well: not the non-assertion of the action, but a negative evaluation of the intentions behind an action or its negative consequences. However, upon reading the occurrences in context, it appears that less than half the total number of occurrences for this category have obvious negative connotations, with most occurrences being neutral on that account (and only 3 occurrences with positive connotations: up to some exciting stuff, up to serious business, I know what you’ve been up to…it’s amazing what you’ve done with your life). If considered alone, the “ulterior motive” occurrences have negative connotations 2 times out of 3, which could indicate that performing an action is not construed as performing a reprehensible action, but having ulterior motives is more likely to be associated with having bad intentions4. When the complement of be up to is something or no good (or be NOT up to + any good), then the interpretation is automatically ‘ulterior motive’ (100%) and overall negative (86%). Be up to something and be up to no/any good however account for 41 and 18 occurrences respectively, which is not that frequent considering how often they are used as examples of that category. What is more, the most frequent expression, What are you up to? is understood as neutral for 83% of the occurrences. More or less explicit clues of negative connotations include the use of lexical elements such as (old) tricks, (weird) shit, funny business, dirty things, the hell/f*, rolling in his grave as complement of be up to or in the co-text, the inclusion in a subordinate clause complement of know (65% have negative connotations) and speaker / addressee / character’s attitude.
33The last category of meaning associated with be up to is the “contingent” meaning, whereby something is considered someone’s obligation, duty, responsibility, choice, ‘thing’ to do as they please. Several paraphrases can apply, depending on the example: to be one's responsibility/place to; to be in one’s power to, to depend on, to lie with; to be contingent on someone's actions/decisions… With 630 occurrences, it is by far the most frequent use of be up to in the data (55%).
(35) ‘Is it up to your party to avoid a shutdown as the White House spokesperson suggests?’ ‘Absolutely not. It’s up to both parties to negotiate in good faith.’ (COCA:2019:SPOK NPR_Morning)
→ Is it your party’s responsibility/role
(36) ‘If you were an on-duty editor - right? - and had heard about a shooting, how would you decide whether or not to cover it, how much space or airtime to give the story?’ ‘You know, if it were up to me, they would all be covered as….’ (COCA:2019:SPOK NPR_ATC)
→ If I could choose/if I was the one in charge of deciding
(37) The choice is entirely up to you. (COCA:2019:SPOK NPR_ATC)
→ You get to decide
(38) There are a few tunnels, but this one takes you underground to the charming, little town of River's End. From there, it is up to you. (COCA:2018:TV Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
→ It all depends on you
(39) At the end of the day (his career) will depend on Josh. His commitment to sobriety and to reaching his goals in football and beyond will determine his success. It ultimately is up to Josh. (COCA:2018:NEWS cleveland.com)
→ His career is contingent/depends on what Josh does
(40) Whether you share the rewards with your rivals is entirely up to you, but your teammates will always share your rewards. (COCA:2018:MAG The Verge)
→ You get to decide, the result is contingent on your choice
34Despite this array of meanings from what is possible to what is necessary for the referent of the complement, these occurrences are once again characterized by homogeneous syntactic and semantic properties. The subject is always a non-person, predominantly instantiated by a pronoun, with the highly frequent use of it (77%) either as a dummy in extraposition (as in 35) or a definite personal pronoun. A few occurrences illustrating subject-raising were identified (These rights are not up to the states to decide. (COCA:2019:SPOK PBS_Newshour) ; Now that work is up to somebody else to continue, if it does. (COCA:2019:SPOK NPR_Morning)).
35The complement is almost always a person (97%) or a person-adjacent entity (institutions) and is mainly definite or indefinite zero + proper name (89%), with a predominance of personal pronouns, followed by proper names and definite determiner + common noun. In fact, all occurrences of be up to + personal pronouns are assigned to this fourth meaning.
36As far as clause type is concerned, contrary to the other meanings, be up to occurs mainly in independent or main clauses (with extraposition of the real subject) (69%) as well as in some nominal content clauses and adverbial if clauses. Unlike the other meanings, negation is not a relevant factor in this category. However, the expression it is up to PP to V-INF means that the choice or the action has to be made/done and therefore has not been made/done yet, leading to the non-assertion of the implied or explicit process, but the assertion of a duty or freedom to realize it.
37Some co-textual elements can help determine whether be up to means a duty or a choice, although it is by no means easy to conclude for many an occurrence and therefore no definite sub-group is proposed for this category. There seems to be a tendency for the obligation / responsibility / role meaning to arise from it + be up to + PP + subordinate clause containing an action verb, combined with an explicit or implied hierarchy or role-distribution scheme; subordinate clauses containing a verb or a subject denoting choice (the decision to… is up to you; the choice is up to you; it’s up to you to decide/choose…) perhaps indicate a permission to decide, the freedom to do so (as opposed to someone deciding for you), rather than the obligation to decide; and absence of context and extraposition could mean “it’s someone’s turn to…”, “let’s see what someone does”. The question of the negation arises: does it’s not up to me mean that I do not have the obligation or responsibility to do something, or that I don’t have a choice in the matter / I don’t get to choose (although the two ideas are often connected in the professional hierarchy for example, it still poses the question of the semantic scope of the negation)? Further analysis is required to determine whether it would be fruitful to create sub-groups for this “contingent” be up to meaning.
38The results show that it is indeed relevant to distinguish two be up to expressions, since the be up to deriving from the up2 of the OED gives rise to four distinct X be up to Y constructions, with distinct syntactic, referential and even lexical properties. The occurrences homogeneously display the same characteristics before and after be up to, and despite possible internal subgrouping the categories of meaning appear to be valid and very often confirmed by set phrases, regular co-occurring markers or the co-text / context of utterance.
39The following table summarizes how each meaning of X be up to Y is associated with a distinct syntactic and referential profile for the subject and the complement.
40Table 2: The properties of each X be up to Y construction
|
Meaning
|
Subject
|
Complement
|
Paraphrase
|
Frequent forms
|
ASP/MOD
|
|
Equal to / on the level of
5%
|
● (non-) person ● DEF or PN ● PP/POS/GEN
|
● non-person ● INDEF ● Ø + code, date, par, speed… ● THE + scale of / standard…
|
Having reached the level of
|
|
Evaluation of the properties of the result of an achieved action
|
|
Fit for / able to
8%
|
● person ● DEF or PN ● PP
|
● non-person ● DEF ● THE + challenge, job, task
|
Having the properties enabling to perform…
|
Be up to it / this
|
(Root) dynamic modality
|
|
Engaged in / bent on
32%
|
● person ● DEF ● YOU
|
● non-person ● INDEF ● WHAT
|
Be doing Be planning
|
Be up to something / no good
What are you up to?
|
Aspect
|
|
Obligatory or incumbent upon
55%
|
● non-person ● DEF or DUMMY ● IT
|
● person
● DEF
● PP or DET + N
|
Be contingent on: decision, responsibility, other
|
Be up to PP
|
(Root) deontic modality
|
41It has become clear from this analysis that be up to is involved in the expression of a (dynamic, deontic, evaluative) modal or an aspectual comment on a situation. The next section discusses first how it is possible for X be up to Y to express these various meaning, by going back to the meaning(s) of the position adverb up. It then delineates the X be up to Y constructions by comparing them to close yet distinct aspectual-modal idioms with which they share some syntactic and semantic features.
42Not much has been said about the meaning of be up to or even up to in the literature. When up to is mentioned, it is usually with its “as far as/until” meaning and not the meanings dealt with in this paper. In other cases, the focus has been on up alone and, most of the time, when it is adjacent to a non-stative verb: the squirrel ran up the tree, to stay up late, to drink up, to wrap up, etc. This section will therefore endeavour to apply some of these findings to X be up to Y, relying mostly on Quayle (1994), from whom the previous examples were borrowed and who is one of the few linguists to mention X be up to Y.
43Within the frame of Guillaume’s psychomechanics, Quayle (1994, 179) shows that the core meaning of up may not be verticality (even if it could be its first historically attested use) but a movement of approach. He uses Lindner’s (1983) characterization of up as marking a trajectory within a domain to distinguish between a vertical movement towards a higher position – which corresponds to some uses of up to1 such as up to their knees, for example – and a lateral movement of approach for non-vertical meanings. In this second movement lies the explanation for the uses of X be up to Y.
44Like many adverbs / prepositions, through its various uses up undergoes semantic extension and grammaticalization from a spatial location or motion along a path to a state or intentional action path (Rice 1999, 6). Huddleston and Pullum (2002, 653) confirm it is all the more so for up as “the notion of approach is in turn related to that of completion of an action on a more abstract level, given that both notions involve movement towards a goal”. According to Quayle, when used in phrasal verbs, up has a resultative meaning that serves to indicate both the completion of the action (reaching the end-point, telicity) but also the approach toward this end or final result (its path). It could be that the aspectual meaning of X be up to Y in its process-oriented “engaged in, bent on” use is an extension of that path-goal meaning. On the one hand, the ability to paraphrase be up to by a progressive form of do confirms that the action is on-going and oriented toward its completion, without necessarily reaching the end-point (hence have been up to not necessarily meaning that the activity is over, and what are you up to being acceptable to express both ongoing events and intended events). On the other hand, the intentional action path makes it possible for X be up to Y to expand to its ‘ulterior motive’ sub-meaning, where the completion of the action, even when reached, is construed as a step in the approach of another (further) action. It therefore illustrates the prospective feature of up, which enables all the stages of an action implied in the definition of a verbal notion as well as the sequel to its completion, beyond its completion (Quayle 1994, 196), to be encompassed.
45This resultative meaning is associated with the (implicit) comparison of the result to a norm (Quayle 1994, 182). While this comparative feature is not obligatory with phrasal verbs, and while it involves a comparison between the resulting situation and the situation prior to the finished action, it allows up to expand its meaning toward the expression of a state compared to a norm, which is taken on by X be up to Y in its “equal to” meaning. This meaning focuses on the result of an action (a product, a state of affairs, a performance) and explicitly compares its qualitative and/or quantitative properties with those of something else presented as the norm / standard, be it another context-specific item (the + …) or a more abstract, institutionalized norm (Ø code / par / speed / date / snuff…). Something that is not up to par is something which has not reached the expected quality of a pre-constructed standard. This comparison leads to an evaluative comment on the subject’s properties which is close to appreciative modality, as with the equation to the standard (or lack thereof) comes a judgement of the subject’s adequacy, validity, appropriateness, etc.
46Perhaps the same logic could apply to the “fit for, able to” meaning of X be up to Y. Quayle (1994, 177) offers two examples of what he believes to be “aptitude” X be up to Y (although his own paraphrase in “faire” (“do”) shows that the second one is process-oriented), which he believes indicate that the subject has reached the limits of its/their abilities: “I doubt if I would have been up to a solo performance (être à la hauteur) (CCR, p.35)”; If buying cigarettes was all that he was up to […] (faire) (SW, p.249). Reaching the subject’s limits may be a tempting reading of “aptitude” be up to, but the idea of limitations (rather than limits) could derive from lexical and grammatical elements in this particular sentence: doubt in the main clause and the modal preterite on the auxiliary would create a counterfactual context that is unequivocally non-assertive. Would this analysis hold with fewer elements of suspended assertion, as with the interrogative Are you up to it?, or without any element of non-assertion, as in a declarative like (41)?
(41) … and readjust her motivational matrix. That was the key. Artificial intelligence was nothing more than sophisticated pattern matching. To achieve consciousness, you needed motivation. But managing the balance between intelligence and motivation could be tricky. It required fine-tuning in a real-world environment. Ray was up to the task. He had no doubts about that. But they’d failed to give him Ava’s code word. (COCA:2019:FIC Analog)
47It is doubtful that with the interrogative are you up to it? the addressee should be asked whether or not they have reached their limits in a situation yet to come, although that interpretation could be argued. In (41) though, <Ray / be up to the task> is asserted as valid, so that it is within Ray’s abilities to “fine-tune” and “manage the balance between intelligence and motivation”. Should one consider that because he is or feels able to do it, it must be the end-point of his abilities, or something approaching that end-point? Instead of seeing this limit to reach as the subject’s maximum potential, could it be possible to see it as the minimum level of a given property necessary to obtain a situation? The limit would be a minimal threshold (of properties: quantitative or qualitative-degree interpretations possible) to attain in order to perform the action, instead of a person’s full yet insufficient gauge of potential. If it proves to be the correct analysis, then it could be in direct continuation of the “equal to” uses of X be up to Y: in the “fit for” uses, X be up to Y would compare the subject’s potential properties with the normal amount / level / quality expected in order to successfully or adequately perform the action. Instead of comparing the properties of the actual concrete result of an action, it would compare the potential to obtain a satisfactory result that lies in the subject, understood as the origin of the action and/or result. Then, I would not have been up to a solo can be understood as meaning that “I” did not have the properties necessary or in necessary quantity or quality that day to perform a solo; are you up to it? asks whether the addressee has enough firepower, or power of the right kind, required to do something, and Ray was up to it would indicate that however much mastery of AI was needed, Ray was able to reach it.
48Finally, the “obligatory or incumbent upon” use of X be up to Y may derive from a non-aspectual, non-comparative form of approach expressed by up, whereby someone is in the trajectory of the thing that is “up”, or even is its destination. Just as up to the house, up to their knees / eyeball, up to page 40 and up to now illustrate a more or less figurative meaning of spatial and temporal up to1, this X be up to Y could be a deontic extension. It rests upon the idea of the law, or an obligation, as something that is connected to a certain directionality, even verticality: depending on its meaning, incumbent implies either a position, or a movement to press (down) on something, to lie against it; it befalls someone to do something, meaning the obligation rests with or falls on that person. The recipient of that obligation could thus be seen as either the goal of the obligation, or maybe just the next step on that obligation’s path.
49It therefore appears that the meanings of X be up to Y can be reconciled with the logic behind the meaning “en puissance” of up, in Guillaume’s terms (i.e. its whole semantic potential, parts of which are illustrated in any given occurrence of up). Rice (1999, 230-231) explains that grammaticalization occurs when the preposition’s meaning shifts from a spatial interpretation (or motion along a path) to a more aspectual interpretation (a state or the unfolding of intentional action):
Many historical linguists have argued that grammaticalization processes involve fairly regular semantic shifts, usually brought about through metaphorical extension (cf. Heine et al. 1991 for an extensive overview). One of the most common shifts cited has been that linking some property of the source domain of space (here, spatial location or motion along a path) with some property of the target domain of time (here, a state or the unfolding of intentional action) as schematized in Figure 1. […] In this vein, Traugott (1978, 1982), Bybee (1988), and Sweetser (1988) have demonstrated how it is possible to get aspectual meaning out of spatial terms via temporal usages. Furthermore, they believe that synchronic associations often recapitulate historical developments. (Rice 1999, 230-231)
50The gradual extension, through time, of the uses of up to more contexts led to the gradual shift of its meaning from purely spatial to aspectual, which in turn corresponded to the gradual grammaticalization of up. This also explains why, from a synchronic perspective, there can be four different X be up to Y constructions, with four distinct meanings that represent four distinct stages in the extension of the meaning(s) of up. Because up is not alone anymore and has to work with be and to, they influence one another so that the whole expression has to be analyzed as a “string” (Brinton and Traugott 2005, 99), a grammaticalized group of words stored as one item in the inventory. Because they correspond to various stages in the evolution of up, the X be up to Y constructions also show some internal syntactic and semantic differences, as well as syntactic and semantic similarities with other constructions. The rest of this paper aims to compare X be up to Y to constructions involving be and a complex preposition, a semi-auxiliary formed with be, or be plus an evaluative adjective (licensing a prepositional complement).
51There exists the possibility of a complex or double preposition for a sequence of words that together correspond to a single unit analyzed as a preposition (Quirk and Mulholland 1964; Klégr 2002; Hoffmann 2007; Dixon 2021). What characterizes a complex preposition is its ability to take a NP as complement and to mark some level of idiomatization, two properties present in the up to of X be up to Y. Very often, however, the examples given by linguists belong to up to1 – “You can change your preference up to three times” (Dixon 2021, 31) – so that it is uncertain whether the same analysis would apply to (be) up to2.
52For Huddleston and Pullum (2002, 625), there is no reason to distinguish between the two sets of up to, or to provide a different syntactic analysis for the most idiomatic uses, which all correspond to a sequence of preposition up + prepositional phrase to NP:
“Metaphorical or idiomatic uses of up to are illustrated in:
[21]
i. Up to page 400, the book does not mention transformations. [“prior to”]
ii. I’ve asked Jake to help, but I’m not sure he’s up to it. [“fit or competent for”]
iii. It’s up to you to set the guidelines. [“a responsibility for”]
iv. That child is up to something. [“doing (illicitly and/or furtively)”]
[…] The senses in [ii–iv] are clearly idiomatic […]
There is no good reason, however, for saying that idiomatisation is accompanied here by syntactic reanalysis. In [21iii] and probably also [21ii] it is possible to repeat to in coordination: cf. It’s up to you, or to your staff, to set the guidelines or I’m not sure that Jake is up to this, or to anything else that needs stamina. We thus analyse up to you as up + to you, and similarly for the others.” (Huddleston and Pullum 2002, 625)
53If up to were fully a complex preposition across all the X be up to Y constructions (which presupposes that regardless of the meaning of X be up to Y, up to has already reached the complex preposition status and is therefore fully grammaticalized and not still in the process of being grammaticalized), then it should indeed be impossible to repeat the to + complement without repeating up as well. It should also be impossible to insert an adverbial between up and to, something that may not occur often but can nonetheless be found in corpora, for example:
(42) It will be up of course to Republican senators to determine if that's enough of an assurance. (COCA:2017:SPOKEN:CNN Anderson Cooper)
(43) He was wronged all along and it's up now to the commissioner to make it right. (COCA:2018:NEWS:New York Post)
(44) Although yes, it feels, she may not be up intellectually to O'Mara's challenges in a disposition. (COCA:2012:WEB:talkleft.com)
(45) …and it is up really to the Revolutionary Command Council what is going to happen. (COCA:1991:SPOK:PBS_Newshour)
54It is also difficult to find an example of up to (from X be up to Y) in fronted position in a relative clause. A COCA search for to which he _vb up or to which she _vb up yields no results, a search for up to which yields 18 results, most of which illustrate fronting when up to means “until” (up to1) with the only occurrences that come close to the meaning of up to discussed here being associated with the verbs measure and live, not be.
55Bordet and Jamet’s (2010) gradient of lexical–grammatical prepositionality allows them to explain why a complex preposition such as in front of is more grammaticalized than up to (as exemplified by up to a point / her knees, up to1). The gradient uses 9 criteria to determine the degree of grammaticalization of a complex preposition.
56Table 3: Bordet and Jamet’s (2010) gradient of lexical—grammatical complex prepositionality, adapted to up to
|
Lexical or grammatical preposition
|
|
|
Open or closed class
|
Up to is part of a small set of prepositions starting with up (up to, up for, upon...?).
|
|
More lexical meaning/role or more grammaticalized function
|
Up to + complement provides the main semantic information in the clause (given that it co-occurs with be).
|
|
Fairly specific meaning or vague, broad, ill-defined meaning
|
In be up to, at least four distinct, abstract yet specific meanings can be identified.
|
|
Compositional meaning or not
|
The uses of up to are considered metaphorical or idiomatic. There is only compositionality of up’s and to’s invariants.
|
|
Morphologically long or short
|
Up to is a two-word complex preposition (which is short compared to in front of, but still less integrated than upon).
|
|
Phonologically strong or reduced
|
Up has a strong form, to is reduced.
|
|
Frequency of use
|
Fairly frequent for an idiom.
|
|
Discourse-use or lexicalization as one unit
|
Up to has its own entry in many dictionaries.
|
57According to this scale, up to in X be up to Y is indeed along the path to grammaticalization as a complex preposition, which could explain why it still displays both properties of an ADV + prepositional complement sequence and properties characteristic of a simple preposition, such as fronting.
58Another test confirms the hybridity of up to’s prepositional properties. Clark (1968, 430) explains that usage may license the substitution of a preposition with another one, but that contrary to intuition, substitution and preservation of the overall interpretation are more easily done via an antonym rather than a synonym, making antonymy “a more central semantic relation for prepositions than synonymy”. That means that two sentences are more likely to have an equivalent interpretation if a preposition is replaced by its antonym rather than a synonymous preposition. Following this, one would expect down to be substituted for up and the result to preserve a similar (type of) meaning, as is illustrated in the alternative between to go up/down to + place name, between to be up for it and to be down for it (in the sense of “eager, ready, willing” (OED, down for it, IV.30, “cf. to be up for (up, adv2 II.10e)”), not the sense of “obligation”). The substitution test with the antonym does not work with up in be up to: “equal to”: to be up to a standard / *to be down to a standard; “fit for”: are you up to it? / *are you down to it?, “engaged in/bent on”: what are you up to? / *what are you down to?; “obligatory or incumbent upon”: it is up to you to… / ?it is down to you to… This last use may license a substitution without too much semantic change: from a movement of approach toward someone who has the permission/obligation to do something, to a process of elimination whereby the person with the obligation is only one in several candidates to the role or the last one standing. Of course, a preposition can never be fully replaced by another preposition, otherwise it would question the relevance of having two different prepositions for the same meaning and context. However, the impossibility to substitute down for up in so many contexts of X be up to Y, added to up to’s ongoing grammaticalization and aspectual-modal meanings when following be, makes it impossible not to compare X be up to Y with aspectual-modal idioms in be.
59Prepositions and verbs have closely related semantic and syntactic features: PPs are used as complements or adjuncts of verbs; both motional-locational prepositions (such as up to) and verbs “may be surface realisations of the same abstract semantic categories” (Becker and Arms 1969, 1) such as momentary and continuative; prepositions can be used as predicates on their own (prepositions in imperatives) and license objects; and sentences can often be rephrased so that the preposition or the verb alternatively signals the same participant / circumstance (see also Halliday’s (1985, 329) description of the preposition as a mini-verb referring to a “minor process” in a “shrunken clause”, the PP). In the case of be up to, given the status of be as a copular verb, most of the meaning has to be carried by up to + complement, so that be up to indeed functions as one unit in which be ensures the reference to a state whereas up to + complement fills the semantic gap.
60In that respect be up to seems to have a lot in common with semi-modals or semi-auxiliaries, “a set of verb idioms which express modal and aspectual meaning and which are introduced by one of the primary verbs HAVE and BE” (Quirk et al., 1985, §3.47) such as be able to, be about to, be apt to, be bound to, be due to, be going to, be likely to, be meant to, be obliged to, be supposed to, be willing to, and have to. Their surface structure is similar: be + adjective / adverb / verb in non-finite form + operator to. They all have idiomatic status. They share semantic features as well: ‘engaged in / bent on” be up to is close to be about to and be going to, “fit for” be up to resembles be able to and be apt to, “incumbent upon” be up to could be paraphrased by be obliged to or be meant to in some occurrences.
- 5 Quirk et al. (1985, §3.47) present semi-auxiliaries after the same fashion: illustration of the NIC (...)
61Because be up to contains be, all central auxiliary properties may be illustrated more or less felicitously on be at least5:
(46) the band wasn’t up to her standards musically, (COCA:2019:SPOK NPR_FreshAir)
→ negation and reduced negated form
(47) What are they up to? (COCA:2019:NEWS OCRegister)
→ subject-operator inversion
(48) So (laughter) his books actually do have a lot of juicy, current stuff in them because he really is up to date with what’s happening on the ground. (COCA:2019:SPOK NPR_FreshAir)
→ emphatic use
(49) This is a shot at a new beginning. Which, like, if you really feel that you’re up to it... -I am. I am. -Then, so am I. (COCA:2019:TV Big Little Lies)
→ operator in reduced clause
(50) everything was back up to par. (COCA:2018:MAG Engadget)
→ pre-adverb position
(51) After that it’s all up to him, whatever he wants. (COCA:2019:FIC AmerScholar)
→ pre-quantifier position
62Like semi-auxiliaries, be up to can combine with modal auxiliaries and semi-auxiliaries: This is going to be up to you. (COCA:2018:SPOK NBC_Today); That was odd. They must be up to something (COCA:2018:FIC Fan Fic); It appears it will be up to others to bail out Johnny Depp. (COCA:2019:MAG rollingstone.com). The same limitations that characterize semi-auxiliaries also characterize be up to. For be up to to be the true equivalent of an auxiliary, the negation would have to be on the whole “auxiliary” element, i.e., on the whole be up to or at least on be up: *am upn’t, *is up ton’t; questions should start with be up or be up to: *am up I to it?;*am up to I it?; and the reduced clause should be *I am up to, not just I am. Quirk et al. (1985) nonetheless retain the semi-auxiliary label for be able to / be going to (etc.) despite their semi-auxiliary status only hinging on the properties of the verb be, so it should not be a reason to exclude be up to.
63The only criterion that excludes be up to from the semi-auxiliary category is the one not explicitly mentioned in Quirk et al.: semi-auxiliaries are all followed by a verb in the infinitive form (Colin 1994, 3; Blanco 2004, 190), whereas be up to licenses a NP or a nominal subordinate clause (WH- clause and V-ING gerund clause). Regardless of the semantic continuity between preposition-TO and infinitive marker-TO, if semi-auxiliary status is first and foremost syntax-based, then be up to cannot be a semi-auxiliary. Even Colin’s (1994, 72) gradient of auxiliary status, based on the type of complement that follows the idiom (V-INF, Content clause, NP: the most auxiliary elements only license a V-INF, the least auxiliary elements also license a content clause and a NP) cannot remedy that, since the least auxiliary of semi-auxiliaries has to license a verb in the infinitive form.
64The type of complement licensed by be up to brings it closer to constructions in which be is a copular verb and to is a preposition, such as be + ADJ/ADV + preposition sequences, with an ADJP or ADVP expressing aspectual-modal meaning(s) and functioning as a subject-complement in the clause. Ciumacenco (2019, 74) remarks that, unlike semi-auxiliaries for example, modal adverbs are usually monosemic. If each X be up to Y construction is to be studied on its own, then each up is monosemic and potentially remains an adverb. As for X be up to Y’s proximity to be ADJ to, a first step would be to compare the meaning of the adjectives that occur in these combinations with the meanings of X be up to Y. A search in the COCA for _vb ADJ to V-ING, which serves only to start a discussion on the matter, yields results for be + akin / central / close / closer / crucial / critical / devoted / equivalent / essential / fundamental / important / key / open / preferable / prone / tantamount / used / vital / vulnerable + to + V-ING. Many of these do not correspond to the same kind of modal or aspectual meaning as be up to, as some of their complements express something akin to a goal-adjunct (be essential to understanding X = be essential in order to understand X). Perhaps a connection could be made with close(r) / devoted / open / prone to V-ING, whose aspectual or subject-property meanings come closer to be up to than any other of the adjectives listed.
65Up in X be up to Y seems to be associated with some properties of adjectives (see Huddleston and Pullum 2002, 606), but not all, so that it may not be possible to positively confirm that the X be up to Y constructions contain an adjective up followed by a to-PP complement, instead of a complex preposition up to (see 2.2.). Further work needs to be done to ascertain if up belongs to the same category in all four X be up to Y constructions studied in this paper, or if it could be argued that up is (on its way to becoming) an adjective in some X be up to Y constructions, and (on its way to becoming) part of a complex preposition up to in others. Indeed, replacing be with another copular verb yields mixed results, with a certain preference for some meanings (especially the “equal to” and “fit for” meanings) for seem, get and feel, to a much lesser extent for become, appear, sound or look. A number of occurrences of very, completely and too as degree modifiers of up to + complement, and inflectional or analytic comparatives and superlatives were found in the COCA.
66Table 4. Results for degree modifiers and comparative / superlative forms with be up to in the COCA and possible replacement with copular verbs other than be (1990-2019)
|
|
“equal to”
|
“fit for, able”
|
“engaged in, bent on”
|
“obligatory, incumbent upon”
|
|
very up to
|
date (11), speed (2)
|
|
|
|
|
completely up to
|
date (4), speed (3), par (1)
|
|
|
personal pronoun / DEF DET + N or proper name (96)
|
|
too up to
|
date (1)
|
|
|
|
|
so up to
|
date (5), snuff (1)
|
|
something (3)
|
the actors (1)
|
|
more up to
|
date (59), speed (3), par (1), snuff (1), my status (1)
|
it (2), things (1), the job (1), V-ING (1)
|
|
him (1), us (1), you (1), DEF DET + N or proper name (7), INDEF DET + N (3)
|
|
FEEL up to
|
speed (2), par (4), the responsibility (1), his normal self (1), snuff (1)
|
the task (7), the challenge (5), the work (1), the test (1), it / this / V-ING / DEF or INDEF DET + N (356)
|
|
|
|
GET up to
|
speed (339), date (49), snuff (3), code (3)
|
V-ING (1)
|
anything (5), more + NEG N (5), much laughter (1), shenanigans (1), some + NEG N (7), no good (7), no mischief (1)
|
|
|
SEEM up to
|
date (2), snuff (1), DEF DET + N (3)
|
the task (5), it (5), the challenge (4), anything (1), V-ING (1)
|
much (1),
|
|
|
BECOME up to
|
par (1), date (1)
|
|
|
me (1), proper name (1)
|
|
APPEAR up to
|
|
the task (1)
|
|
|
|
SOUND up to
|
date (1), speed (1)
|
|
|
|
|
LOOK up to
|
date (2), par (2), snuff (3)
|
the task (1), the job (1)
|
|
|
67A few occurrences of preposition modifier right can be found, including 4 occurrences of right up to date and 1 occurrence of right up to par / speed / his evil schemes each, but right can also be used as an adjective modifier, as in He gave me a right good whack on the side of the head (COCA:2019:MOV:The Holy Fail). As noted above, a brief COCA search revealed no fronting of up to (like up to which/whom) for the construction. Once more, the adjectival properties concern the whole unit up to + complement and not just up or up to, so that if up is to be analyzed as an adjective, it is by virtue of heading a phrase with adjectival properties.
68This paper has provided a detailed description of a family of X be up to Y constructions, corresponding to four distinct meanings: X being “equal to” a certain standard or task Y, X being “fit for, able to perform” Y, X being “engaged in, bent on” performing Y, and Y being “obligatory for, incumbent upon” X; each construction has a distinct set of syntactic and semantic properties, while there seems to be a semantic graduation from one to the other. The four meanings are derived from the semantic potential of the adverb up denoting a spatial / temporal / abstract position. The X be up to Y constructions convey a certain number of aspectual-modal meanings which bring these constructions closer to other constructions such as semi-auxiliaries or evaluative predicative complements (be + ADJ + to…). The frequent use of the constructions leads to the gradual lexicalization of some items (like up-to-date) as well as to a certain degree of hybridity in the categorization of up or up to, as arguments can be given in favour of a complex preposition up to but also in favour of up to Y as an adjective phrase.