[Grammar] up by

[Sukhomvit]

Excerpted from Out of Africa

"Look here now,” he said, “Lulu has explained to her husband that there is nothing up by the houses to be afraid of, but all the same he dares not come".

Lulu is a gazelle. I could not find out the meaning of "up by" in any dictionary. is it equal to "up to"?

Thanks Teacher!

 

[BobK]

No. The words don't belong together. '...there is nothing up' and 'by the houses...'. So it means "there was nothing to be afraid of going on + near the houses [that is where nothing was going on]".

b

 

[Sukhomvit]

No. The words don't belong together. '...there is nothing up' and 'by the houses...'. So it means "there was nothing to be afraid of going on + near the houses [that is where nothing was going on]".

b

What is meaning of "up" in "there is nothing up" please? "Up" has many meanings and I could not figure out what it takes in this sentence.

 

[bhaisahab]

Did you read post #2? It explains what "there is nothing up" means.

Have a look at this link. Scroll down to "up adverb (Problem)" http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/up

 

[emsr2d2]

I read it as "There is nothing + up by the houses". I did not even consider Bob's understanding of it until I read post #2.

 

[Tarheel]

There is nothing to be afraid of near the houses.

 

[BobK]

Sorry for the red herring. The more prosaic meaning hadn't even occurred to me. After a few years of EFL teaching, one sees phrasal verbs lurking everywhere

b