Is it english or do native speaker really speak this way?

Question

is end up + noun, end up the mess for instance, real english or do native speakers really speak this way? end up the mess, end up the war, end up the meeting etc... is it the incorrect use of the phrase "end up" which means finally be or do something/be in a certain state as a result of some action or event?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

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Not good English, but oddly enough we can 'finish up the war/ the soup / the meeting'.
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Anonymous · Answer

thank you. that means it is NOT incorrect and native speakers do speak this way, right?

Mister Micawber · Answer

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I repeat: Not good English. That means it is not correct and native speakers do not say that.
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Anonymous · Answer

but why there are so many evidences, evidences from native speakers, showing the opposite?

Mister Micawber · Answer

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Please show me this evidence ( and 'evidence' is an uncountable noun).
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Anonymous · Answer

way too many:

CES News - Intel Will Highlight Silverthorne at CES - [ ???? ]
Many sources were saying that it looked Blu-ray would end up the war and control over 70% market share. But when it comes to next generation DVDs, ...

[DOC]

CHAPTER 26: REACTION AND NATIONALISM

- [ ???? ]
????: Microsoft Word - HTML ?
We end up the war with all European countries are trying to stop Austria/Hungary or Russia from taking the whole continent. ...www.solonschools.org/accounts/rrivera/Ch26Notes_1113200723641.doc - ????

My Military Campaign - Mark Twain - [ ???? ]
... and guessed we could be depended on to end up the war in time, because no Government could stand the expense of the shoe-leather we should cost it ...

Anonymous · Answer

way too many if you type "end up the war/fight/argument/... " and search it on the net

Khoff · Answer

I googled "end up the war" and looked at several of the results.  None of them seemed to be written by native speakers -- the passages all contained other awkward or incorrect constructions -- with the exception of Mark Twain, who was indirectly quoting a rural, probably uneducated American in the 1860's.

Mister Micawber · Answer

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Hi Anon,

Yes, your first two examples are definitely grammatically incompetent and written either by learners or uneducated native speakers. I have underlined the errors:

it looked Blu-ray would end up the war
We end up the war with all European countries are trying to stop

Your 3rd example, on the other hand, is an accurate quote from the American writer, Mark Twain, but it was written in the 19th century.

So I will change my opinion slightly and say that end up + noun (= finish) is possible but no longer generally accepted. Presumably it has been replaced by my other suggestion, 'finish up + noun' or the more casual 'wrap up + noun', both of which are in current use. They finished up the pizza this morning. We wrapped up the meeting at 10 pm.

There are also two slightly different forms with different meanings:

End up in = result in. The game ended up in a tie. She ended up in the kitchen
End up + noun = be transformed into. He studied hard and ended up a professor.
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Anonymous · Answer

However I do believe it is possible to have "end up the + nount", as in:

He end up the meeting with a congratulations to John

Is it english or do native speaker really speak this way?

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