Pile on; unenrol

Question

Hi,1) "The test was along the same lines as the sample test, but the teacher piled on the original instructions with more details/piled more details on the original instructions."Does one of these work? 2) When I want to drop from an exam and sign up for a different one at a later time, can I say ‘unenrol’ or ‘sign out of’? We use an online portal to do it.  Thank you.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Ann2251) "The test was along the same lines as the sample test, but the teacher piled on the original instructions with more details/piled more details on the original instructions."Does one of these work?

Not very well. "Pile on" is an expression with its own syntax, and meanings that do not fit here. You can't pile on something with something. And the teacher modified the existing instructions, but she didn't add additional items of the same kind.

The transitive "pile on" is almost literal. The teacher could pile on the questions by changing a 10-question test to a 50-question test. She really piled on the questions. She piled the questions on. She figuratively made a heap of questions on top of the other questions.

The intransitive "pile on" is from sports, American football or rugby, probably. When several players throw their bodies on top of one opponent player, they are said to be piling on. "The teacher made fun of Johnny, and the rest of the class piled on."

Pile on; unenrol

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