258. Saying How Long Something Lasts

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Most word categories can express the duration of an event or situation

VARIETY OF CHOICE

The time taken by actions or events (often called “duration”) is one of those common meanings that English can express in numerous ways. Its importance means that language learners tend to encounter it quite early in their studies, but its variability means some possibilities remain unfamiliar until much later.

This post explores the variety of duration language. It is thus similar to other Guinlist posts about different ways of expressing a particular common meaning, such as examples, consequences, possibility and importance. As with those posts, the underlying belief is that familiarity with numerous alternative means of expression greatly assists paraphrasing (see 80. How to Paraphrase).

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RECOGNIZING DURATION

A problem with duration language is that much of it can also indicate when rather than how much time. Consider this:

(a) The premises are open between 10.00 and 16.00.

Without a context we cannot tell whether this is giving the length of opening hours or just their simple location in time: the sentence equally well answers both a “when” question and a “how long” one.

The discussion that follows is about language that can indicate duration, not language that only does so. Explanations of how duration is or is not indicated are offered occasionally, when considered necessary.

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DURATION INDICATORS

The idea of duration tends to be thought of as an adverb one (see 120. Six Things to Know about Adverbs, #1), yet it can actually be expressed with words and phrases in all of the main word classes (parts of speech). Some expressions indicate an exact length of time, others are vague.

1. Adverbs

Individual duration adverbs include all along, always, briefly, constantly, continuously, endlessly, eternally, ever, extensively, fleetingly, forever, instantaneously, long, perpetually, permanently, quickly, rapidly, (long) since, slowly, still, temporarily, throughout and not yet. The underlined words can express repetitive frequency as well as duration.

Exact duration is indicated by since (= “between then and now”) and by adverbs referring to the briefest possible time (e.g. instantaneously) or all possible time (e.g. all along, always, ever, throughout). For details of how to express duration with the words above, see the relevant section in 227. Time Adverbs.

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2. Prepositions

A few preposition phrases equate to an individual duration adverb like the ones above. For example, without end, in perpetuity and since then closely resemble endlessly, perpetually and since (see 85. Preposition Phrases and Corresponding Adverbs).

Perhaps the most familiar duration-showing prepositions are for, since and until (or till: see 132. Tricky Word Contrasts 4, #5). For accompanies explicit period lengths, since period beginnings and until period ends. For and until can express a duration occurring at any time, but since typically expresses one ending in the present (see 61. “Since” versus “Because”). When until expresses a duration ending in the present (e.g. until now, until today), it cannot imply future continuation. This meaning must be expressed with so far, up to now or to this day (see 48. Tricky Word Contrasts 1, #1).

Durations ending in the present typically accompany a verb in the “present perfect” tense:

(b) Engines have used petrol since 1876 (or for…years or until now).

A common error with for and since is adding so far or similar. This is unnecessary because the meaning is already present in both the preposition and the verb tense. However, adding until now (to indicate “not longer”) is acceptable.

With durations that are wholly in the past or future, since is rare. A common alternative is from (see 282. Features of History Writing, #9) combined, if the end of the duration is not obvious, with a later to, up to, until or American through. A different alternative is between… and… (not *between… to… – see 165. Confusions of Similar Structures 2, #4). Note, though, that between… and… has an alternative use of vaguely indicating a single moment within a time period instead of a duration throughout it.

Although for, since, from and until are especially useful for indicating an exact duration, for can also indicate inexact ones. It may accompany a vague number expression, like several months or billions of years (with -s of after billion-: see 67. Numbers in Spoken English, #3), or no number word at all. The following examples are all from the Guinlist post 164. Fixed Preposition Phrases:

for ages
for a (long/short) time
for a (brief) moment
for a time
for a (good) while
for good
for hours/days/weeks etc.
for life
for now
for the moment
for the time being

The underlined phrases here often need lasting instead of for when describing a preceding noun (e.g. illness lasting ages, employment lasting weeks). Note that for can be dropped before any kind of number word, but not always in expressions without one.

One other duration preposition – in – both indicates a length of time and says it is the total time needed to complete something:

(c) A book can be written in six months.

Using for here would leave the total duration of book writing unclear. Note the absence of -s’ time in (c), which indicates not duration but a future moment (see 293. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 4, #1). Other examples allowing in include CONDUCT A SURVEY, BUILD A HOUSE and CROSS THE OCEAN. Within is used similarly but means “in less than”.

Finally, there are throughout and right through instead of for + entire + time period. For example, working throughout the day means working for the entire day. During does not express this meaning, but rather indicates only some of a period (time location rather than duration). Similar to throughout is all in expressions like all along, all day, all year, all the time and all the while (see 169. “All”, “Each” and “Every”, “Specialised Use 2”).

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3. Conjunctions

The value of indicating duration with a conjunction rather than adverb or preposition is that it enables verb use in the duration (see 174. Eight Things to Know about Conjunctions, #1). Two prepositions that can become conjunctions with a subject + verb after them are since and until.

However, there is no obvious conjunction that can, like for, indicate duration without a clear start or end point. Although as, when and while can introduce extended time periods, these usually indicate when rather than how long (see 225. Simultaneous Occurrence). As long as is perhaps the nearest possibility:

(d) Plants grow as long as conditions are right.

The problem with as long as is that it usually implies a condition as much as a duration (see 230. Multi-Word Conjunctions), often equating to provided (that):

(e) Postal voting is possible as long as identification is provided.

One way to indicate duration more clearly in a conjunction-like way is by using an expression that is not strictly a conjunction but behaves like one. My best suggestion is all the time (when). Replacing as long as in (d) with this clearly indicates duration.

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4. Connectors

Connectors help two related ideas to be expressed in two sentences rather than one (see 40. Conjunctions versus Connectors). Possibilities for expressing duration include all this time, all along and the whole (of the) time (see 308. Complexities of “Whole”, last section).

However, these will not always be appropriate, and it is common instead to start a new sentence with what I call a connector synonym – something like This lasted… or It took…for this…, where a noun or pronoun like this (representing the previously-mentioned event or situation) links with one of the duration verbs suggested below.

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5. Verbs

Some verbs combine with a time expression (again without the word time) to express duration. With CARRY ON, CONTINUE, ENDURE, KEEP ON, LAST, PERSIST and PREVAIL, the time expression acts like an adverb, e.g. lasted (for) six years. With NEED, SPEND and TAKE, it is an object (…took a while); with PASS it may be a subject or object. The object of NEED and TAKE allows a following to verb, that of PASS and SPEND an -ing one.

Using a verb of duration (work lasted 10 hours) instead of an adverb phrase (worked for 10 hours) perhaps more clearly makes the duration the main sentence focus.

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6. Adjectives

All of the -ly adverbs listed above can drop their ending to become adjectives (e.g. a permanent problem). Two other vague adjectives are short-lived and long-lasting.

Exact duration can be indicated with a hyphenated combination of a number word and singular time noun, e.g. six-minute, two-day, five-year. These are not strictly adjectives but noun phrases used like adjectives (see 136. Types of Description by Nouns, #4). As a result, they cannot go by themselves after a noun and link verb like BE: they need either to accompany a…one (e.g. …was a five-hour one) or to drop the hyphen and use the plural of the noun (e.g. …was six minutes).

Note that when the number word before a time noun and other noun is a(n), the time noun needs the possessive form: an hour’s delay, a moment’s hesitation, a week’s work (see 58. Optional Apostrophe Endings).

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7. Nouns

Although there are nouns involved in some of the uses above (e.g. after prepositions and the verb TAKE), they cannot be considered noun indicators of duration. This is because their meaning – a particular length of time – is only part of the idea of duration. The other part – shown by words like for, until and TAKE – is the idea of actually passing through that time.

Common nouns indicating passage through time include a duration, a delay, a hesitation, a life, a period and a wait. They can express duration with an adjective like long or short, or a time noun, e.g. a duration of a month; a month-long duration; a month’s duration; a six-month duration. Typical verbs with these are HAVE, BE and There + BE:

(f) There was a month’s wait for materials.

(g) The life/duration of the project was two years.

The underlined words in (g) are replaceable by both delay to and time taken by. Both (f) and (g) resemble property-naming sentences (see 163. Ways of Naming Properties).

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PRACTICE EXERCISE: DURATION

To assist revision and memorization of points above, try paraphrasing each sentence below with the given word (suggested answers follow).

1. World War 2 lasted almost 6 years.
DURATION

2. High speed trains take less than a day to cross the continent
WILL CROSS

3. It is necessary to study for six years to become a doctor.
SIX-YEAR

4. Side effects of most drugs are short-lived.
LAST

5. The 20th century experienced unbroken technological development.
OCCURRED

6. Food needs have always been met successfully so far.
CONTINUOUS…NOW

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Suggested Answers

1. The duration of WW2 was almost 6 years.
2. High speed trains cross the continent within a day.
3. Six-year study is necessary to become a doctor.
4. Side effects of most drugs last briefly/a short time.
5. Technological development occurred throughout the 20th century.
6. Food needs have been met with continuous success up to (not until) now.

257. Structures with a Double Meaning 4

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Some grammar structures can be understood in more than one way, just like some words

DOUBLE-MEANING STRUCTURES IN ENGLISH

Language structures are made by combining meaningful units together in accordance with a grammatical rule. Most are multi-word. Sometimes, the combined words can be understood in different ways, just as is often possible with single words. Alternative meanings of particular multi-word structures seem worth studying in order to avoid possible confusion in both reading and writing.

In reading, unfamiliarity with the different possible meanings of a particular structure could cause the same kind of problems as those that are possible with multi-meaning words, such as readers thinking the structure has a meaning they know when it actually has one they do not (see 11. Homonyms and Homographs). For writers, unawareness of a structure’s alternative meanings can hinder anticipation of reader misunderstandings, so that no measures are taken to prevent them (see 265. Grammar Tools for Better Writing, # 6).

As the above title indicates, this is not the only Guinlist post aiming to identify and describe fairly common word combinations with alternative meanings. For a full list, see 124. Structures with a Double Meaning 1. To read about single words with a variable meaning, see 7. Metaphorical Meanings,  11. Homonyms and Homographs,  116. Rarer Uses of HAVE,  121. Sentence-Spanning Adverbs and 256. Unusual Meanings of Familiar Words.

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EXAMPLES OF DOUBLE-MEANING STRUCTURES

1. “Noun + Infinitive

A to (infinitive) verb placed directly after a noun-like expression mostly names an action that can or must be done to what the noun represents. Common examples are work to do, a train to catch and problems to solve. The nouns are like an object of the to verb. The combination is especially common after HAVE or there + BE (see the end of 116. Rarer Uses of HAVE):

(a) There is work to do.

By contrast, in a few combinations of this kind the noun expression names something that performs the action of the verb rather than receives it – it is like a subject of the verb rather than an object. Examples are computers to calculate and soap to wash (see 239. Nouns Combined with a “to” Verb). For this kind of meaning to be understandable, the verb must express an action that the noun is logically able to perform, and must be usable without an object.

Double meanings arise when the conditions for the second meaning are met but the first meaning is also logical. This situation is unlikely with computers to calculate and soap to wash because computers logically perform rather than undergo calculation, and soap logically performs rather than undergoes washing. Phrases that definitely can express both meanings include nobody to check, animals to hunt, programs to plan and people to help. Nobody to check, for example, means either nobody is available to do checking or nobody is available to be checked.

Where the double meaning exists, a passive infinitive may be usable to clearly convey the action-receiving meaning (though see the discussion of nothing to be seen in 246. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 2, #1). For another kind of double meaning involving a noun + infinitive, see 182. Structures with a Double Meaning 2, #5).

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2. Verb + Object + “-ing”

Here is a sentence with this kind of double meaning:

(b) Some experiments involve animals suffering pain.

One interpretation is that some experiments cause pain in animals; the other is that some experiments are on animals who are already suffering pain. In the first case, suffering is grammatically noun-like (a “gerund”) with animals its subject, and is the central idea after involve. In the second case, suffering is an adjective-like participle, equivalent to “who are suffering”, that is describing animals, making them the central idea (see 71. Gerund and Participle Uses of “-ing”).

Once again, certain conditions need to be met for this double meaning to exist. Firstly, the main verb (involve) must be the kind that allows or requires a following noun + -ing to express the first meaning above. Some main verbs – e.g. ADVISE, HELP and ORDER – require a noun + infinitive (with to) instead (see 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive), so that -ing after a following noun is only understandable as a participle. Similar to INVOLVE are NECESSITATE, PHOTOGRAPH and STOP (for more, see 232. Verbs with an Object + “-ing”). For an example of a similar double meaning with PHOTOGRAPH, see 253. Descriptive Wording after Nouns 2, #1.

Secondly, the double meaning seems to be less likely with -ing verbs expressing a single brief action. If sentence (b) is given a verb of this kind, e.g. eating a banana, the second of the two meanings – where a relatively permanent characteristic of the object is named – is unlikely to exist. Suitable -ing verbs apparently need to mean either a state, like suffering, living, possessing and standing, or a defining regular activity, like working. 

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3. “What” + Statement + “is” + Noun

What is usable outside of questions to mean “the thing(s) which” (see 200. Special Uses of Relative Clauses, #4). The “thing(s)” meaning here may refer to something mentioned at the end of the same sentence, or to something else. Compare:

(c) What rarely loses value is gold.

(d) What harmed the economy was a mystery.

Here, (c) is a more emphatic way of saying Gold rarely loses value. What stands for the noun after is (gold). This noun identifies the idea of “thing” inside what. For more about such sentences, see 145. Highlighting with “What…” Sentences.

In (d), by contrast, what is unlikely to stand for the noun after is (a mystery), but instead probably represents something outside the sentence. One reason is that this makes greater logical sense (mysteries rarely being a cause of harm to economies). Another is that a mystery is usable in English with the adjective meaning of “mysterious” (see 270. Paraphrasing Adjectives with Words of Other Kinds, #1), so that it can describe rather than identify the “thing” idea in what. For more on the identifying versus describing uses of is, see 117. Restating Generalizations more Specifically.

A further aspect of the particular word mystery is that, because it suggests absent knowledge, it changes the what part into an indirect question: see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing.

A double meaning involving the above two uses arises when the noun after is logically allows either, e.g.:

(e) What affected the economy was a disaster.

This could mean either “a disaster affected the economy” or “the event suffered by the economy was disastrous”. Both meanings are possible because a disaster, like gold and unlike a mystery, is logically a very possible subject of the main statement affected the economy, yet is also, like a mystery, able to express a description, equating to disastrous.

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4. “Both” between a Verb and two Objects

A sentence like the following does not in itself suggest two meanings:

(f) Dictionaries give both the pronunciation and the grammar of words.

Here both is grammatically a conjunction through which the reader expects to encounter two following nouns linked by and (see 64. Double Conjunctions). The nouns are grammatical objects of the verb give, which has the meaning of “supply” (see 244. Special Uses of GIVE, #3).

Things can change, however, if the preceding sentence also refers to two things:

(g) The activity requires two learners. Dictionaries give both the pronunciation and the grammar of words.

Now it is not clear whether both looks forward to pronunciation and grammar or back to two learners. This is because it can be a pronoun as easily as a conjunction, facilitating repetition of a just-mentioned noun idea (see 271. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 3, #2). As a pronoun in (g), it has the sentence role of “indirect object”, indicating a beneficiary of the verb’s action (see 126. Verbs with an Indirect Object).

Various conditions have to be met for this kind of double meaning to exist. Not only must the preceding sentence refer to two of something, but these two must be of the right kind. In (g), replacing learners with pens removes the possibility of both referring to it because the context of both (learning languages) necessitates mention of people not things. A further condition is that the verb in the second sentence must be usable with and without an indirect object. Besides GIVE, possibilities include OFFER, PRESENT, PROMISE, PROVIDE and SHOW.

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5. BE + “-ed”

When this combination has a double meaning, the reason may just be that the -ed part can mean different things without undergoing grammatical change. Sometimes, however, the cause is grammatical variability: the -ed word able to be not just part of a verb but also an adjective in the “complement” role after BE. Consider this:

(h) The soldiers were relieved.

Relieved as an adjective expresses an emotion: the good feeling that people have when a bad experience ends. The above sentence might convey this meaning if describing the end of a frightening battle. On the other hand, when relieved is a verb, its meaning depends on the type of subject it has. If this is a cause of suffering, such as pain, the meaning is “lessened”; if it is a person, like the soldiers above, the meaning is “replaced in their duty by others”.

Ability to be a complement as well as a verb part is also possessed by -ing words. For an example of a noun-like -ing complement, see 69. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong 2.

There are various ways of “proving” that an -ed word is being used as an adjective rather than a verb. One is the way the meaning of the -ed word differs from the fundamental verb meaning – often expressing a state or situation rather than event (see 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending). Other -ed adjectives include advanced, confused, contented, interested, marked, pointed and used (to). For details of advanced and confused, see 261. Words with Complicated Grammar 3. For details of contented, see 254. Tricky Word Contrasts 10, #1.

256. Unusual Meanings of Familiar Words

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Many small common words are usable in a very different way from the familiar one

THE PROBLEM OF UNSUSPECTED MEANINGS

One of the early reading posts in this blog (3. Reading Obstacles 2: Multi-Use Words) focuses on the existence in English of small words that can be used with surprisingly differing meanings, often with consequential misunderstandings in reading. What was not highlighted there, however, was the fact that some words with this kind of variability are better known than others.

Most students of English, for example, become quite familiar early on with the fact that so is usable as either a conjunction introducing a consequence or as a degree adverb like very or as a manner adverb meaning “in this way” (see 212. Special Uses of DO 1). Similarly, most tend to know that quite means “fairly” before some kinds of adjective or adverb, and “completely” before others (see 194. Adverbs that Say How Much).

Small words whose multiple meanings have tended in my experience not to be so well known by less experienced English users are fairly numerous. The varying familiarity of their meanings probably results from at least one of the meanings not being so common in everyday English. Some specialised meanings, indeed, may be typical of academic or professional contexts. This post focuses on a number of words possessing one or more meanings that might surprise at least some readers. Many of the words also feature in other posts, but I hope having them together here will prove useful. For further words with a surprising meaning, see 229. Metaphorical Prepositions and 284. Words with a Surprising Meaning.

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LIST OF LESS COMMON MEANINGS

1. “Some”

This word has three less common uses besides the familiar adjective-like one meaning “a quantity of”. In all of them, it must be pronounced like sum rather than with the reduced vowel /ә/. The first is before a number and plural noun to indicate inexactness (see 95. Making Statements More Uncertain 1, #5):

(a) The stadium holds some 60,000 spectators.

Secondly there is an informal use that means “unidentified”. Grammatically, it requires not a plural or uncountable noun like the familiar use of some, but a singular countable one:

(b) The project has been delayed by some problem.

Often, this use can sound a little angry, so has the potential to cause offence. A politer alternative would be an unidentified. A slightly more complex version is the combination some such…as… (see 228. Exotic Grammar Structures 5, #1).

Thirdly, some can be used informally with countable and uncountable nouns to mean “very large” or “extraordinary” – in either a good or a bad sense. It needs to be said with emphasis. Thus, in These are some problems it means “very great”, and in …is some teacher “extraordinarily good”. The fixed phrase take(s) some doing means “needs a lot of effort” and hence “is very difficult” (see 213. Special Uses of “Do” 2, #6). 

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2. “Well” and “Way”

For most people, the familiar uses of well are probably as a manner adverb (= “in a good way”) and as a connector introducing the detail of a new topic (see 186. Language in Oral Presentations, #2). Its less familiar use is as a degree adverb before certain prepositions and preposition-like adverbs, in order to indicate a medium distance. It might be found, for example, before above, after, ahead (of), away from, before, behind, below, beyond, in front (of), inside, outside, past, under and within (see 262. Adverbs that Describe a Preposition).

With all of these, different adverbs show different distances. The smallest distance is shown with just or slightly, a medium distance needs well, and a great distance can be conveyed with either far or way. As an example, a temperature said to be just above 100 degrees would probably be around 101 or 102, while well above 100 might suggest 105-107, and way above would indicate greater than that.

The value of using words like these compared to numbers is that they say what the numbers mean (see 115. Surveying Numerical Data, #4). Their disadvantage, of course, is that by themselves without a number they are vague and open to misinterpretation.

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3. “Quite”

This word has at least two uses other than the two mentioned above. One is a spoken English way of showing agreement. To achieve this, quite is uttered just by itself in response to the statement being agreed with (for written equivalents, see 152. Agreeing and Disagreeing in Formal Contexts).

The other use is before nouns (see 313. Adverbs Linked Closely to a Noun). The noun may be a singular countable one with a or some (seems quite a/some worker), or a plural or uncountable one with some (were quite some workers). Quite always indicates immensity. Combinations with a positive noun like quite a worker convey approval or even praise, while those with a negative noun (was quite some suffering) indicate unusual difficulty.

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4. “Without”

The less common meaning of this word is well illustrated by the following sentence that a student once reported as problematic:

(c) Civil war within the empire and mounting attacks by Vikings from without made the later years unpropitious.

Here, without is the opposite of not with but within, making it similar to outside.

 

5. “Save”

This word can mean “except”. Like except it sometimes needs a following for, sometimes disallows one, and sometimes allows a choice. Compare:

(d) The website does everything save speak.

(e) The city has everything save (for) a beach.

(f) The website is perfect save for some slowness.

In (d), for cannot be added because save is between a noun-like expression (the pronoun everything) and a verb (speak). In (e), for is optional because save is between two noun-like expressions (everything and a beach). In (f), for is needed because save does not follow a noun-like expression (cf. the adjective perfect). For a more detailed discussion, see 215, Naming Exceptions.

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6. “However”

This blog has plenty to say about the use of however with a meaning like that of but (see 20. Problem Connectors, #3), but different grammar (see 40. Conjunctions versus Connectors). One other fairly familiar use is within direct and indirect questions (see 272. Uses of “Ever”, #2). Perhaps less familiar, though, are two ways of expressing the general idea of unimportance, both again adverbial:

(g) However a vehicle is powered, there is always an environmental cost.

(h) However convincing the evidence (is), some people will not accept it.

In (g) however, means “in whatever way”: it is a “manner” adverb saying something about the verb is powered. In (h), on the other hand, however means “to whatever extent”: it is a “degree” adverb, saying something about the adjective convincing (see 120. Six Things to Know about Adverbs, #1).

For more on unimportance, see 199. Importance and Unimportance. For a problem potential with the varying uses of however, see 275. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong 3, #1.

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7. “Say”

This word sometimes means “for example”:

(i) Within a short distance, say 10m, everything changes.

Here, say names 10m as an example of the general idea a short distance. In other words, it says 10m is a randomly-chosen representative of various distances all describable as short (see 1. Simple Example-Giving). Unlike some other example-giving expressions, it also conveys an expectation that the reason why the general class name needs clarifying is not because it represents a difficult, unfamiliar concept but because it is vague.

Grammatically, example-naming say is an imperative verb, an abbreviation of let us say. Like for example, it can go either before or after the example(s). It can also be used without explicit mention of the general class name (Within, say, 10m…). This too is possible with for for example, but it is especially common with say. Here is another example:

(j) Language learning develops more through practice than through studying, say, a dictionary.

The implied general class here is something like learning aids. Observe the punctuation: surrounding just say instead of say + example.

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8. “Only”

The familiar classifications of this word are as an adjective and an adverb. Its less familiar use is as a conjunction:

(k) Cycling has numerous benefits, only there is a risk of accidents.

Here, only is recognizable as a conjunction because it is the sole facilitator of two ordinary-form verbs (underlined) occurring in the same sentence – without it, two sentences would be necessary (see 174. Eight Things to Know about Conjunctions, #1).

In (k), the meaning of only is not so different from that of the adjective or adverb: it highlights a small exception (cycling accidents) to a general trend (cycling benefits). However, there are other cases where the meaning similarity is smaller (see 251. The Grammar of “Only”, #5).

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9. “Very”

Apart from being the familiar adverb of degree, very can be an emphatic adjective with various possible meanings: “extreme” (the very beginning/end), “precise” (the very person/place), or “just” (the very thought = “just the thought”). It always needs the before it and a noun or equivalent after:

(l) The very mention of the word “grammar” can evoke fear.

It is not possible to place very after the noun it describes, with a link verb like BE in between, unless it is combined with the pronoun one (…is the very one). For a detailed discussion of adjectives like this, see 184. Adjectives with Limited Mobility.

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10. “Up”, “Down” and “Round”

As well as being adverbs or prepositions, these words can be verbs of the transitive (object-needing) kind. The verb UP means “raise”, DOWN means “cause to go down” or “put down”, and ROUND means “travel around” or “cause to be circular”. Common combinations include up an offer, up the stakes, down an aircraft, down a drink, down tools, round a corner and round one’s lips.

The “travel around” use of ROUND would normally involve incomplete circles, such as corners, complete ones needing GO AROUND or (for states) ENCIRCLE (see 295. Options in Saying Where, #1). ROUND can express further meanings by combining with certain preposition-like adverbs to form phrasal verbs. Common partner adverbs are up, down, off and (up)on.