Could there be a difference between "lift up something" and "lift back something", like:
- He lifted back his head.
- He lifted up his head.
Are these sentences different?
Learn English – Lift Up, Lift Back
phrase-meaningphrase-usageword-difference
Related Solutions
Can you picture what dogs do, when they want you to pet them on the belly?
They look at you expectantly and then roll over on their back.
Like many other English words, the word "free" has several overlapping meanings, and two of those meanings turn out to be problematic when discussing software. In particular, "this software is free" could mean:
- free as in free beer: "this software costs no money to use"; or
- free as in free speech: "this software has few or no restrictions on how it may be used"
To remove the ambiguity, some people write "gratis software" to mean the first kind (costs no money), and "free software" to mean the second kind (has few or no restrictions).
Some examples:
Neither gratis nor free software: Most commercial software falls into this category. If you want Microsoft Office, you must both pay money for it, and agree to a lot of restrictions on how you can use the software. For example, you are not allowed to edit the internal workings of Microsoft Office to make it behave differently, fix a bug, et cetera.
Gratis, but not free software: Adobe Reader is available without charge, but if you want to use it you must agree to a number of restrictions on how you use it. For example, you are allowed to run the software. But you are not allowed to package it up and sell it as something else to another person.
Free and gratis software: The Blender Game Engine is the building block of many games. You can use Blender at no charge, and you are only minimally restricted in how you use Blender or what you do with it.
Gratis is not otherwise an everyday word in English, outside of specialized distinctions like this one.
Related Topic
- Learn English – “To back” vs. “to back up” in meaning of “to support”
- Learn English – Difference between “raise” and “lift”
- Learn English – What does “head on back” mean
- Learn English – “Come back” vs “come back up”
- Learn English – Date back vs date back to
- Learn English – Difference between ‘way back then’ and ‘way back when’
- Phrase Difference Meaning – ‘Back and Forward’ or ‘Back and Forth’
Best Answer
Yes, there is a difference.
The first is grammatically okay, but would rarely be used because a much more common expression is already widely used:
The second sentence is common.
"lift back" presents an awkward usage to English speakers because "lift" implies a movement in a direction other than "back." That is, "back" implies "behind", whereas "lift" implies "up." They can be used as a phrase, and the listener would deduce a diagonal motion, but it would generally be perceived as an awkward statement.