Sum up vs add up

Both 'sum up' and 'add up' are correct phrases in English, but they are used in different contexts. 'Sum up' is commonly used to mean providing a brief overview or conclusion of something, while 'add up' is used to mean calculating the total of numbers or making sense logically.

Last updated: March 27, 2024 • 1234 views

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English to mean providing a brief overview or conclusion of something.

"Sum up"

Use 'sum up' when you want to give a concise summary or conclusion of a topic, discussion, or situation.

Examples:

To sum up, the main points of the presentation are...
Let me sum up what we have discussed so far.
In conclusion, to sum up, we need to focus on...
To sum up, the project was a success.
To sum up, I believe we should move forward with the plan.

Show examples from the web [+]

They can sum up a whole life perfectly.
I can sum up Pat Farrell in ten words.
Let me sum up this policy as it stands today.
I could sum up my speech in a single word: 'yes' to Bulgaria.
Let me once again sum up the Amsterdam Treaty's Asylum Protocol.
But, people, we cannot sum up a man's life with a bunch of numbers on a computer screen.
Allow me to briefly sum up the approach that I advocate.
Don't criticise your colleagues, try and sum up the reason for applying in eight words.
And you can sum up my viewpoint on this with one word... indifference.
First, let me sum up what we have done this year.
And for some reason it seemed to perfectly sum up how I felt about Gemma.
Mr President, I can sum up this debate fairly briefly and, I hope, at a reasonable pace.
Let me sum up my priorities for European space travel in a conceptual pairing that may perhaps seem paradoxical: independence and cooperation.
We could sum up the situation by saying, like Marianne Thyssen, 'Europe has been created, now let us create the Europeans'.
Let me sum up by saying that we are not entirely satisfied with what has been achieved, and we would have liked much more.
sum up the measures taken by the Commission;
As Chairman of the Industry Committee, I have presented an opinion which I would sum up by means of four points.
In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life - It goes on.
Nai - and I think that I can sum up everything you need to know about the difference between sam and me and the way we see this practice into one word defatalator.
Let me just sum up the view and position of the Commission as regards the accession date and conditions regarding Bulgaria and Romania.

Alternatives:

conclude
recap
summarize
wrap up
give a summary

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English to mean calculating the total of numbers or making sense logically.

"add up"

Use 'add up' when you want to calculate the total of numbers or when something makes sense logically.

Examples:

Can you add up these figures for me?
The expenses don't add up to the total budget.
It doesn't add up that he would leave without saying goodbye.
The evidence just doesn't add up in this case.
The story she told didn't add up.

Show examples from the web [+]

Two dimes, seven nickels... well, okay, no, that doesn't add up.
The numbers don't add up, Caitlin.
These numbers, they just don't add up.
I'm saying the symptoms don't add up.
Sometimes when the numbers don't add up, it means that there's some cosmic pain - that has to be healed.
Since you're an all-cash business, anybody could see that your returns don't add up.
There are a lot of things that don't add up.
This is one of the many things that don't add up here.
This is now starting to add up.
Looks like that could add up pretty fast.
It just doesn't add up.
This whole thing with Naomi doesn't add up.
There's something else that doesn't add up.
Andy's right... doesn't add up.
You add up every guy in this place and you get a 6.
-Your counting doesn't add up.
- But the numbers all add up.
But all those scars, They start to add up.
You know that doesn't add up.
Where one wound might easily heal multiple wounds add up.

Alternatives:

calculate the total
make sense
compute
total up
reckon

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Sum up vs add up

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