Slow (sb/sth) (up/down)

[Van Khanh]

Please read:

a.Economic growth has slowed a little.
b.The car slowed down as it approached the junction.
c.The game slowed up a little in the second half.
d.The ice on the roads was slowing us down.
e. You must slow down a little.
f. We hope to slow the spread of the disease.

Is there the difference btw "Slow (sb/sth) up"," slow (sb/sth) down", "slow (sb/sth)"? Are they interchangeable in all 6 sentences?

Thanks
K

[Alan]

Hi,

My suggestions are in brackets:

a.Economic growth has slowed a little. (not grown so fast)
b.The car slowed down as it approached the junction. (reduced speed)
c.The game slowed up a little in the second half. (didn't have as fast a pace)
d.The ice on the roads was slowing us down. (making us travel more slowly)
e. You must slow down a little. (not work so hard)
f. We hope to slow the spread of the disease. (reduce)

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Phrasal Verbs/look

[Van Khanh]

Dear Sir,

a.Economic growth has slowed/has slowed down/has slowed up a little. The same meaning for 3 cases?
b.The car slowed/slowed down/ slowed up as it approached the junction. The same meaning for 3 cases?
c.The game slowed/slowed up/slowed down a little in the second half. The same meaning for 3 cases?
d.The ice on the roads was slowing us down/was slowing us/was slowing us up . The same meaning for 3 cases?
e. You must slow down/slow up/slow a little. The same meaning for 3 cases?
f. We hope to slow/slow up/slow down the spread of the disease. The same meaning for 3 cases?

thanks
K

[Yankee]

.
Just a note:

Slow down is much more commonly used than slow up.

"Statistical proof" supplied by Saint Google:

slow down......42,400,000
slow up................400,000
.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Van Khanh]

Hi Amy,

42,400,000 means 42,400,000 times?
42,400,000 means 42,400,000 times?

K

[Yankee]

slow down vs slow up:

Google found forty-two million four hundred thousand instances of the usage of slow down online. (42,000,000)

The Google results for slow up were only four hundred thousand. (400,000)

That's a pretty extreme difference in usage.
.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English