“Up” - Phrasal Verbs

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

Ø Have you seen the warning the boss has put up on the notice-board?

Ø 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”.

Ø You look really unhappy. Cheer up!

Ø 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”.

Ø When the President arrives, everybody must stand up.

Ø Stand up straight when I am speaking to you.

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

Ø You need to liven up your ideas.

Ø How can we liven up this presentation?

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

Ø I have built up a strong team of workers.

Ø 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”.

Ø Can you speak up? There is a lot of background noise.

Ø 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”.

Ø I was born in Scotland but grew up in England.

Ø Where did you grow up?

If something increases fast, it “shoots up”.

Ø The price of petrol has shot up recently.