Phrasal verbs · Free lesson
Free up space: make storage available again
Imagine a tablet with 64 GB of total storage. After some unused demo files are removed, available space rises from 1 GB to 5 GB. The tablet still has the same total capacity.
Professor Scott MendozaMeaning in this lesson
free up
Make a resource, such as occupied storage, available for use.
Example
“The change freed up some storage space.”
The change made some storage available again.
The short answer
Free up space means make storage available for use. If a fictional tablet has 1 GB available before a change and 5 GB afterward, the change freed up 4 GB. It did not add 4 GB to the tablet’s total capacity.
Focus on the space that becomes available.
Free up names the release of a resource for use. In this lesson, that resource is storage space. Free up some space and free some space up both work. With it, put the pronoun in the middle: free it up. The past form is freed up.
Name the resource or the amount
We need to free up some space.
The change freed up four gigabytes.
We freed some space up.
Free here is a verb about availability. It is not the adjective meaning “at no cost.”
Read the before-and-after figures
The starting amount
Before: 64 GB total; 1 GB available.
The available space afterward
After: 64 GB total; 5 GB available.
The amount newly available
The change freed up 4 GB.
Try it now
Check availability, amount and word order.
Read all answers and explanations
What does free up storage mean here?
Make occupied storage available for use.It means making occupied storage available. A zero price and an extra copy describe different ideas.
The fictional tablet has 1 GB available before the change and 5 GB afterward. Total capacity stays 64 GB. Which sentence correctly states the change?
It freed up 4 GB.Available space increased by 4 GB: 5 minus 1. Five GB is the final available amount, not the amount released. Total capacity did not change.
Replace the known storage space with it. Keep the past-tense phrasal verb.
We freed it up.The pronoun goes between freed and up: We freed it up. The other orders do not fit this pattern.
Build it yourself
Report the space you made available.
Use all five pieces. Begin with We freed and finish with yesterday. The noun object some space can go in either of the two positions taught above.
Build a statement about the past change. Select a piece again to move it back.
Your storage statement
0 of 5 piecesYour chosen pieces will appear here.
See a model answer
We freed up some space yesterday.
Both noun positions work: freed up some space and freed some space up. The meaning is making storage available.
A little more clarity
Common questions
A few useful details before you move on.
Does free up mean the storage costs nothing?
No. In this expression, free is a verb about making a resource available. The sentence does not tell you the device’s price or whether a service charges a fee.
We freed up some storage space.
Is freeing up space the same as backing up files?
No. Backing up creates an extra copy. Freeing up space makes storage available. Creating another copy on the same device can use more space rather than release it.
We backed up the files, but the tablet’s available space did not increase.
Take it into your day
Free up space makes existing capacity available again. It does not describe a price or automatically expand total capacity.
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