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Phrasal Verbs with UP 1

I've had a lot of requests for some lessons on 'up' so here is the first of several. We'll cover the easy part today.

One common use for 'up' in phrasal verbs is to indicate

• An upward movement
• An increase
• An improvement

See how that applies to these eight verbs.

If you display something such as a poster, you 'put it up' on a wall or a notice-board.

• Have you seen the warning the boss has put up on the notice-board?
• Can you put up a poster in your window?

If somebody is miserable and you want them to be happier, you can tell them to 'cheer up'.

• You look really unhappy. Cheer up!
• I wrote Pearson a letter to try to cheer him up a bit.

If you are sitting and then you rise from your chair, you 'stand up'.

• When the President arrives, everybody must stand up.
• Stand up straight when I am speaking to you.

If a party or a seminar is dull, you need to 'liven it up'.

• You need to liven up your ideas.
• How can we liven up this presentation?

If you want to make something stronger, you can 'build it up'.

• I have built up a strong team of workers.
• I have been ill and need to build up my strength.

I can't hear very well these days – I'm old. When you speak to me, you need to speaker, to 'speak up'.

• Can you speak up? There is a lot of background noise.
• It is a big room. You will have to speak up so that those in the back can hear.

The place where you lived when you were a child is where you 'grew up'.

• I was born in Scotland but grew up in England.
• Where did you grow up?

If something increases fast, it 'shoots up'.

• The price of petrol has shot up recently.
• My English scores shot up after I started studying with Pearson.

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Phrasal Verbs with UP 2

There is a group of expressions using 'up' where the 'up' is not necessary. For example you can say 'fill' or 'fill up' and it means almost the same thing. So why do we add the 'up'? Well one possible answer is that 'we do it because we do it' – we have just developed the habit of adding 'up'. However, often the 'up' seems to 'intensify' the verb, to make it more 'complete'.

Look at these examples and see what I mean.

If you are late, you need to 'hurry up'.

• Please hurry up. We are terribly late.
• We need to hurry up or we will miss our flight.

You can 'ring up' somebody on the telephone.

• I will ring you up when I get back.
• You can ring me up if you need any help.

If you cut your skin, it needs to 'heal up'.

• This will take a week to heal up.
• I cut myself shaving and it will not heal up.

Before I go on a long journey, I have to 'fill up' my car with petrol ( or if I were in the US 'gas'.)

• I need to fill up my car.
• The concert filled up quickly and not everybody could get in.

When I send a package, I 'wrap it up' well.

• Could you wrap this up for me?
• They didn't wrap it up properly and it got damaged.

If you have something valuable, it is a good idea to 'lock it up'.

• He did not lock up his desk properly and somebody stole his calculator.
• I think they should lock up pedophiles for a very long time.

If you don't have enough money to buy something, you need to 'save up'.

• I am saving up to go on a trip to New York.
• You'll have to save up if you want to buy a car.

When things are in a mess, you need to 'tidy them up'.

• We need to tidy up the office before the visitor comes.
• Tidy up your desk. It's such a mess.

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Phrasal Verbs with UP 3

If you make a mess, you need to 'clear it up'.

• It was your party. You clear up the mess.
• Don't expect me to clear up after you.

If you need some support, you need somebody to 'back you up'.

• If you report it, I'll back you up.
• Nobody would back me up when I complained.

If there is none left, you have 'used it all up'.

• The ketchup bottle is empty. We must have used it all up.
• We must stop for petrol (or gas!) . We've used it all up.

On a special occasion, you put on fine clothes – you dress up.

• Do we need to dress up for the party?
• I like dressing up and going somewhere fancy.

If you fall behind in your studies, you need to 'catch up'.

• He was ill for two months and is struggling to catch up.
• I need to put in some work to catch up on what I missed.

If you go to bed late, you 'stay up'.

• My student daughter stays up until 3 every day.
• I cannot stay up late. I've got to start early tomorrow.

Perhaps my daughter's parents didn't 'bring her up' correctly.

• She was brought up very strictly.
• He's been very well brought up.

When it's time to finish drinking, you tell everybody to 'drink up'.

• Drink up. We have to leave now.
• It's time to go so drink up.

If you like vegetables as I do, you 'eat them all up' and don't leave any on your plate.

• If you eat up all your carrots, you can have some ice cream.
• I ate up all the chocolate that we had.

If you need some information, you should 'look it up' on Google.

• I looked up the name of the capital of Scotland. It is not Glasgow.
• Can you look up his phone number for me, please?

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Phrasal Verbs with UP 4

If someone 'beats you up', they hit and kick you and hurt you a lot.

• The muggers beat him up badly.
• I was beaten up so badly that I was off work for a month.

If you 'bottle up' a feeling or emotion, you suppress them and don't express them.

• If you bottle up your feelings, you will make yourself ill.
• I was angry but I bottled up my feelings during the meeting.

If you 'call someone up', you phone them.

• I tried to call you up earlier but there was no answer.
• Call me up when you get a chance.

If something 'crops up', it happens unexpectedly.

• Something has cropped up. I am going to have to work late.
• If a problem crops up when I am away, give me a call on my cell phone.

If you 'freshen up', you wash and make yourself more presentable.

• I need a minute to freshen up before we meet them.
• When they arrive, they will probably need a few moments to freshen up after the journey.

If your eyes 'light up', they become excited.

• Her eyes lit up when she saw the dress.
• His eyes lit up when he saw her wearing the dress.

If you 'own up', you confess to something.

• Nobody has owned up to starting the fire.
• He owned up to being a big fan of Britney.

If you 'polish something up', you improve it.

• The basic report is fine but you need to polish it up a bit.
• I must polish up my Japanese before we go to Tokyo.

If you 'speed up', you go faster.

• We need to speed up production. It is taking too long.
• Can you speed up a bit? I am going to miss my train.

If you 'tighten up' something, you make it more secure.

• We need to tighten up security in the light of these threats.
• We need to tighten up our quality control system. There have been too many mistakes.

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Phrasal Verbs with UP 5

If you 'do up' your coat, you fasten it.

• Do up your jacket. It looks untidy.
• Can you do up my coat for me? My hands are frozen.

'Do up' can also mean to decorate or make repairs to something.

• Buy me the paint and I will do up my room.
• I'm going to do up my car so that I can sell it.

To 'hold up' can mean to delay.

• We were held up by a traffic accident.
• I don't mean to hold you up but we must finish this discussion.

To 'keep up with' can mean to go at the same speed as.

• It is difficult to keep up with all the changes they are making.
• I don't know how you keep up with all the news.

To 'keep up' can mean to maintain.

• It is difficult to keep up the payments on my new car.
• I can't afford to keep up an apartment in town and a house in the country.

If you 'kick up a fuss', you complain loudly about something.

• He will kick up a fuss when he finds out that he is not invited to the meeting.
• The restaurant had given away our table so I kicked up a fuss and got another one.

If you 'stir up' trouble, you cause it by agitation.

• She is always stirring up trouble about some grievance or another.
• Some shareholders tried to stir up trouble about the sale of the factory.

If you 'sum up', you briefly restate the main points of a meeting or discussion.

• I'd like to sum up my presentation with this quote from Winston Churchill.
• Could somebody sum up what you talked about this morning?

If you 'turn up' a dial, you increase it.

• Could you turn up the volume? I cannot hear it.
• That's the brightest I can make the picture. I've turned up the control to the maximum.

If you 'turn up' somewhere, you arrive, sometimes unexpectedly.

• John turned up at the party, even though he wasn't invited.
• He's always turning up for work an hour late.

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