Hello,
I have some questions on some adverbs in bold below:
The government sent troops to break off the strike. (to stop the strike)
Did he catch up on some sleep on the plane? (to get some sleep)
I should cut down my living expenses. (to reduce my living expenses)
I think the three bold expressions like off, up on, and down can be omitted and the sentences do make sense. The actual meanings I want to express are in the parentheses. Anyway, the bold expressions seems to make the meanings more clear.
What do you think? Do you think they make sense without the expressions in bold? I wonder what you think on them.
Yes, I agree with you on all three of these examples. In fact, I think for the strike it sounds better without the âoffâ. The troops would âbreak the strikeâ. If the union or the group organizing the strike decided to stop striking, that is when âbreak off the strikeâ would be more appropriate.
âcatch some sleepâ sounds pretty informal, but is still very natural.
To me, âcut down on my living expensesâ is more natural, or âcut my living expensesâ.