Fill-up or Fill-out

Question

I have always been puzzled and confused  of these two phrases: "Fill-up" and "Fill-out". Whenever I go to the  Professional Regulations Commission (PRC), I am always instructed to  FILL-UP the forms. It even has a big instructions posted on the wall  stating to FILL-UP the forms completely. I even hear professionals use  the phrase. I always see such also in many of the forms from both  private and public entities. But, a teacher of mine told me to use  FILL-OUT instead. Why should the preposition be changed?

Wwwdotcom · Accepted Answer

You mean fill in, not fill up.

Whillie2000 · Answer

wwwdotcom

Thanks for the comment anyway, but do you mean I should fill in the form?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Actually, it's a slightly odd case where you can fill out a form, or fill it in. Both are OK. But you can't say to someone 'Please fill up this form', it's just wrong.

Best wishes, Clive

New2grammar · Answer

0Clive, 02br
02br
00What do you mean by the following?02br
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00Actually, it's a slightly odd case where you can fill out a form, or fill it in.02br
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00Are you saying they are odd to say?02br
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00I don't understand why "fill up the form" is wrong. I think I hear it every day. What would you say naturally?0-

Nona the brit · Answer

0Well, native English speakers would never say 'fill up' a form. It may have become a local variant perhaps, if you hear it a lot, or it could be something that people bring in as a direct translation from their native language without considering that the preposition may be different in English.02br
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00In mainstream English either 'fill out' or 'fill in'0-

Tanit · Answer

1blockquote

01cite10New2grammar12cite10 Actually, it's a slightly odd case where you can fill out a form, or fill it in.Are you saying they are odd to say?12blockquote

10No, Clive said they were both OK.01blockquote

01cite10Clive12cite10... it's a slightly odd case where you can fill out a form, or fill it in. Both are OK ... 12blockquote

10As for me, I've always used "01i00to fill in a form02i00", because that's what I usually heard. After reading this thread, I checked 05200 and I've learnt another phrasal verb.02br
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00EDIT: Sorry Nona, I started replying before your post appeared. I'm really a slow typer. 051010id111id6242hrefhttp://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=fill.out*1+0&dict=Pc"to fill out (<=> sth)"

New2grammar · Answer

0Thanks Nona! Does it soudn weird to you because fill UP is usually associated with containers? For example, fill up the bucket, fill up your glass, fill up your tank/car. I would like to know how native speakers interpret the preposition 'in' in this phrasal verb. Thanks in advanve02br
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00Edit02br
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00Tanit, thanks02br
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00My question to you: .Clive said something about 'odd case' and I can't relate that to the rest of his sentence. To me, odd is negative but later he said, both are OK! I detect contradiction 05002br
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00I have no problem with Fill in and that's what i hear and use a lot of times. I think I must have misheard out for up. A short sound like this is easily mistaken by me especially the speaker is talking like a bullet train. 02br
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00Also, fill OUT has a sense of thoroughness that fill IN doesn't have. Am I right?010id6

Nona the brit · Answer

0Clives comment = It is odd that there are two possibilities here (and it's really odd because the two words are opposite to each other: in and out).02br
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00Fill up - yes this is usually associated with a container of some sort.02br
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00I'm not sure how exactly I interpret the 'in'. I suppose because I am putting information in specified places? But don't then ask me to explain 'out'. No idea on that one.0-

New2grammar · Answer

0Thanks Nona!02br
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00Maybe the 'out' means fill until you run OUT of blanks/space. It doesn't really matter but every bit helps me understand 0-

Anonymous · Answer

fill up is wrong when you are going to use it in forms. fill out is correct

Fill-up or Fill-out

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