Example of add verb:

(a) ADD A TO B.

This illustration represents that the value of A will be added to the value of B and the result will be stored in B.  The alignment of the decimal point is completed automatically.

(b) ADD A B C TO D.

In this situation the values of A, B & C will be sum to the older value of D and the resulting sum will be the latest value of D.

(c) ADD 30 A TO B.

This illustration represents that the number 30, the value of A & the value of B will be added and the resulting sum will be stored in B.

(d) ADD A, B GIVING C.

At this point only the values of A & B will be added and the sum will be stored in C. The older value of C will be lost and that value will not take part in the summation.

(e) ADD A, B GIVING C, D, E.

In this situation the value of A, B will be added and sum will be stored in C, D & E. 

Therefore after the execution of this statement, C, D and E will have similar value. The above illustration indicate that in the case of the TO option the earlier value of the last named operand takes part in the summation and then this value is substituted by the result. Though, this is not the situation when the GIVING option is used. It should be mentioned that the last named operand in both the cases can never be a literal as the resultant sum is always stored there.

It is very important to note that TO and GIVING cannot be used concurrently. And hence, ADD A TO B GIVING C would be wrong.  The aim is served by specifying as ADD A B

GIVING C. With the GIVING option identifier-2/numeric- literal-2 is a must.