[Vocabulary] to wrap up and its opposite

[dilodi83]

- I got to wrap up and tie up Stella's birthday present. Do you have any nice paper?

- When Stella receives her present she'll.............. and she'll she what it is.

Is the opposite of "to wrap up" a gift "to tear off"? I mean a verbs through which we can mean that the gift is open and the wrapping is torn (sharply or kindly)...

 

[5jj]

We unwrap presents we receive.

 

[Robotnick2]

I believe the correct verb would be "to unwrap"

- When Stella receives her present she'll unwrap it and she'll she what it is.

[not a teacher, just a native]

 

[dilodi83]

Thanks so much for your explanations...but what about "to tear off"? I looked it up on Thesaurus Encyclopedia Dictionary and it says that this verb is also used to open a wrapping...now, I'm wondering what it means by "wrapping" as you say that a gift can only be unwrapped...and not torn off?
What's your opinion about this? When would you use the verb "to tear off"?

 

[waflob]

It really all depends on the child and how the present is unwrapped. If it is carefully removed from the wrapping, it is unwrapped. However, if the child is somewhat impatient and excited (i.e. a normal child ;-)), then the process is somewhat shorter and the wrapping used suffers considerably more. In this case, tearing off is more accurate.