On the fire?

[Leong187]

She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire.

1) May I know the difference, though it can be slight, between 'crumple sth' and 'crumple sth up'?

2) Can we use 'into the fire' instead and when do we use 'on the fire'?

Thanks in advance.

[Dozy]

1. I guess "up" emphasises that the result of crumpling is a compact object, but usually the difference is not very important.

2. "into the fire" and "on the fire" can both be used. Strictly, "on" means that you are throwing something onto the surface of a fire, and "into" means you are throwing something into the interior of a fire, but in practice the difference is usually immaterial and both words describe essentially the same action. You can also use "onto".

[Leong187]

Thanks Dozy, you have been really helpful.

I've got one question, though. I am just wondering how one can throw something onto the SURFACE of a fire since there is no top layer of an area of fire. I do not really understand that.

Thanks again.

[Dozy]

In this case you can imagine the "surface" to be the top layer of the material that is burning.

[Leong187]

Thanks Dozy.

[JoeJoe]

[Beeesneees]

'Crumple up' means the same as 'crumple'. It's a phrasal word. I disagree that it is always a good idea to get the meaning across in as few words as possible. There is nothing wrong with the original which uses 'up'. For me, the 'up' provides emphasis of the action.
I also don't see that 'on the fire' indicates any reluctance in the act of burning the paper. As Dozy has already said, in practice, both words describe the same action.

Once again you emphasise that you are a native English speaker, but some of the phrases in your message indicate otherwise.
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