student asking question

Why isn't it just "giving up doing" rather than "giving up on doing"? What is the role of "on" here?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

The preposition "on" here is used to go with the idiom "give up on doing something". To "give up on" something means to stop doing something because you have stopped hoping for something, while to "give up" usually just means to stop trying or to sacrifice something. In this case, "giving up on doing things in the perfect order" means to stop thinking or believing that things will be done in the perfect order, so the expression "give up on" is used. Ex: Don't give up on love. Ex: She doesn't want to give up on her dreams.

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