An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'Pass Out', with examples and exercises. Hello and welcome to my website all about English phrasal verbs. Each week, I take a different phrasal verb and look at how it is used by native speakers, with a focus on the different meanings that it has and the expressions and idioms that it is used in. The phrasal verb 'pass out' is used both in British and American English and has three distinct meanings that we will look at in this post. In addition to the phrasal verb meanings, there is also the noun 'pass-out' that we will also cover. So, without further ado, let's get started.... PASS OUT: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS As is customary, let's start by taking a look at the components words that make up our phrasal verb of chose as these often give valuable clues to its meanings. The verb 'to pass' is a regular English verb and will likely be familiar to speakers of other European languages as it has cognate words in many of these languages. It is a very diverse verb in English and has a lot of different meanings, but one of the key concepts behind it is movement, especially the ideas of moving past something or leaving something behind you. The prepositional particle 'out' is, like the majority of English prepositions, one with a large number of applications within the language. The general idea here though is that it is used to talk about a position on, or a movement towards, the exterior of something. Among its many other applications however, it is worth noting in the context of 'pass out' that 'out' can be used as an adverb to mean 'unconscious' or 'sleeping'. Ok, so now we have covered those, let's take a look at the meaning of 'pass out'... MEANING 1: To lose consciousness In the previous section I gave you a little clue regarding the first meaning of 'pass out', which is 'to lose consciousness' or 'to faint'. In my very humble opinion, I would say that this is definitely the most widespread and commonly used of the three meanings that we will cover in this post. As outlined above, we use 'pass out' to describe when we temporarily lose consciousness, which can be caused by medical conditions, emotional stress or responses to changes in our physical surroundings. In addition to this, we also use 'pass out' to describe someone who quickly falls into a very deep and often unexpected sleep and this is often used by native speakers to describe people who fall asleep in this way due to having drunk a lot of alcohol. On a grammatical level, this meaning of 'pass out' is intransitive and does not take a direct object. In terms of formality, it is relatively informal compared to the official medical terms that a doctor would use, however it is absolutely fine to use in most situations. If you wish to specify the cause of you passing out, then the additional preposition 'from' is required. Examples of usage.... Helen was in so much pain that she passed out whilst waiting for the ambulance to arrive. If someone passes out, it is important to act very quickly and seek medical advice. John drank so much rum at the party that he passed out on a chair in the corner. Roger passed out from illness and exhaustion. MEANING 2: To distribute The second meaning of 'pass out' is 'to distribute something to a group of people', normally by hand. This usage is derived from the meaning of the verb 'to pass' where one thing is transferred from one person to another (e.g. the salt and pepper at a dinner table), with the prepositional particle 'out' adding the extra meaning of 'to a group of people'. As such, we don't use 'pass out' to describe passing an object to just one person, it's always to a group. The typical environment in which this application of 'pass out' is used is a classroom or an office environment where documents are often distributed to groups of people, but the usage is not limited to these and it can be used to describe when something is given to a group of people by hand. Unlike the previous example, this usage does require a direct object and is therefore transitive. The direct object can either go between 'pass' and 'out' or after them without changing the meaning. Examples of usage.... Lisa, can you please pass the test papers out to the rest of the class. On my birthday last year I walked around my office and passed out chocolate treats to all of my colleagues. The aid workers passed out water supplies to the victims of the disaster. MEANING 3: To graduate from military school The third and final meaning of 'pass out' is a primarily British meaning and means 'to graduate from military school after finishing the initial training'. The idea here is that the serviceman or servicewoman in question is now qualified and is no longer a trainee and therefore takes part in a ceremony to mark this occasion. In addition to using 'pass out' for graduation from military school, we also use it to describe graduation from training in the police force. Moreover, the graduation ceremony for both these newly qualified police officers and military recruits is called a passing out parade. The noun 'passing-out' also exists in English to describe the act of graduating from police training or a military college. Similar to the first meaning, this usage of 'pass out' is also intransitive and does not require a direct object. Examples of usage.... A total of 1000 new servicemen and women have passed out of the Royal Military Training Academy so far this year. My son is due to pass out of his police training school next week, so my wife and I are going to his passing-out parade to celebrate with him. BONUS As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, the noun pass-out also exists in English. It describes a type of ticket or other form of authorisation which allows a person to leave somewhere and re-enter it at a later point of time. This is often used in theatres and other performances where the doors tend to be closed for the show and movement in and out is restricted, however it can be used in a work environment too if you need to leave your place of work for a period of time e.g. for a doctor's appointment. If you wish to leave whilst the performance is ongoing, you will need to obtain a pass-out from a member of staff. My boss wouldn't give me a pass-out last week to go and see my child's school play. EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to pass out'.... The pain was so intense that I fainted for a short period. Roger drank so much beer at his work party and ended up falling fast asleep on his sofa at home. Here are the test papers. Lisa, can you please distribute them to the rest of the class. Food and water was given to all of the people whose houses had been flooded. John graduates from military college and we are going to watch his graduation ceremony. If you want to leave the theatre during the performance you will need authorisation. The answers will be available on next week's post. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'SHOW UP' (other variations may be possible) No signs of the disease SHOWED UP on the test results. Despite putting the background on my video call, the picture on wall still SHOWED UP on the computer screen. This article SHOWS John UP to be an adulterer and a liar. My mother really SHOWED me UP in front of all my friends yesterday. My birthday party started at 8pm but nobody SHOWED UP until after 9pm. Lisa SHOWED UP for Helen when her father was sick. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'pass out' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below. See you next time! James

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'Show Up', with examples and exercises. Hello and welcome to my blog all about English phrasal verbs. Each week, I take a different phrasal verb and look at how it is used by native speakers, with a focus on the different meanings that it has and the expressions and idioms that it is used in. 'Show up' is a well known and frequently used informal phrasal verb and I am sure that you know at least one meaning of it. It may actually surprise you that it has a total of five different meanings and in this post I will go through all of these to show you how native speakers use them, with plenty of examples to illustrate each usage. So, without further ado, let's get started.... SHOW UP: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here. THE BASICS To begin with, let's take a look at the words 'show' and 'up' in order to gain an understanding of their key meanings, which in turn can help us better understand the phrasal verb meanings. 'To show' is a verb which means to allow or cause something to be visible or perceived by other people. This is often very visual in nature as when we show something to someone, we intentionally bring their attention to it, so that they can look at or watch it. The prepositional particle 'up' is used to describe a higher position or movement away from the ground and towards the sky or to a higher position. 'Up' also has many other usages in English and one that is noteworthy for this post is when it is used as an adverb to mean 'into view or attention', often used with other 'up' phrasal verbs such as 'bring up' and 'come up'. So, what meanings do we have in English when we combine these two words. Read on to find out more.... MEANING 1: To be clearly visible or noticed Our first meaning of 'show up' is 'to be clearly visible or noticed'. In other words, if something 'shows up', we are able to see or notice it. With the visual aspect of this first usage, it is clear that it is derived from the verb 'to show', however the two do not mean the exact same and are used differently. The key difference between them is that when we show something, there is an intention behind our action, in other words we want it to be seen, whereas with 'show up' there is no intention to show anything or bring it to anyone's attention. In fact, it is frequently used when something is still visible despite efforts to try and hide it. On a grammatical level there is also a difference between the two. We often use the verb 'to show' with a direct object and also an indirect object, i.e. we show something to someone (e.g. "I showed my friend my new house"). On the other hand, we cannot use 'show up' with an object; it is rather used to say that something can be seen by other people and no object is required. 'Show up' is regularly used in the medical world to talk about tests for diseases and antibodies and also x-rays and scans. Moreover, we use it often in IT and computers when we talk about searches and things that are visible on our screen. Outside of these, we can use it to talk about anything that is visible or noticeable, especially after attempts have been made to hide or cover it such as stains on clothes or a credit enquiry on a credit report. Examples of usage.... I've just received the results of my scan and thankfully nothing bad showed up on it! If two lines show up on a pregnancy test, it means that it is a positive result. I've tried to delete this window on my computer screen but it keeps showing up and won't go away! Despite having washed her favourite shirt several times, the red wine stain still showed up on it. A strange transaction has shown up on my bank statement, so I am going to call the bank now and find out what it relates to. MEANING 2: To expose the true nature of someone Meaning number two of 'show up' is 'to expose the true nature of someone or something', normally when it is something bad. This meaning is not too different from the first one that we have just covered as it is also about something becoming visible to others, however in this case it is a person's true nature. Alternatively, this meaning of 'show up' can be used with reference to the true nature of something, such as an organisation. As I said previously, this application of 'show up' is usually used when someone or something is revealed to be bad or negative in some and you may therefore hear it used with nouns like 'liar', 'hypocrite', 'idiot'. For this application of 'show up' we can use the additional prepositions 'as' and 'for', as well as the verb infinitive 'to be', to specify what the exposed true nature of something is. In addition, if someone does something to expose themselves and show their own true nature, we can use the reflexive pronouns himself, herself, themselves etc. Examples of usage.... Through the publication of his private text messages, the politician was shown up to be an uncaring and horrible person. The newspaper reports have shown him up as a spoilt and petulant soccer player. During a stressful day in the office, Lisa showed herself up as the horrible and spiteful person that she really is. The government has shown itself up to be incompetent and ineffective. Meaning 3: To arrive The third meaning of 'show up' is one that I think many of you will already be aware of as it is in common use in English: to arrive. When we use 'show up' in the sense of 'to arrive', it is often to talk about arriving at a planned event or gathering. It is commonly used when there is something unexpected about the arrival such as the person arrives later than expected, is wearing something strange or does not arrive at all and this usage is very similar to that of the phrasal verb 'turn up'. Moreover, we can also use 'show up' to talk about unexpected arrivals of any kind, such as when you have an uninvited guest at your house. In very informal English, it is also possible to omit the preposition 'up' for this meaning and just have the word 'show', e.g. "I had a party last night and hardly anybody showed". Please note that you cannot do the same with 'turn up'. Examples of usage.... John showed up to work this morning an hour late because he slept through his alarm. My friend didn't show up to the restaurant this evening, which is really unlike him! I hope he is ok. Everyone showed up to the school prom on time, except for the teachers! My cousin showed up at my front door at 3am this morning and woke me up. MEANING 4: To embarrass someone Our fourth meaning of 'show up' is to 'embarrass or to humiliate someone' and for this one we have a direct object, which is the person who is being embarrassed. This direct object (the person) tends to go between 'show' and 'up' and in fact 'to show someone up' is a great synonym for 'to embarrass someone'. Please note that placing the object after 'show up' tends to sound wrong to native ears for the most part. In British English, we use 'to show someone up' when a person is embarrassed or humiliated due to somebody else's behaviour or conduct. This could be in a professional work situation but more often than not it is likely to be in a family or social situation. On a more global English level, 'show up' is often used when someone is made to feel embarrassed or stupid because somebody else does something better than they do. Examples of usage.... I can't believe you behaved like that in front of my colleagues. You really showed me up! Lisa really showed Helen up during the charity event when she told the guests that she had done all of the preparation work and Helen had done nothing. I don't want to play football amateurs, I'm too good and I will just show them up! When the two singers started singing, the older lady was much better than the younger lady and really showed her up. MEANING 5 : To be there for someone Our fifth and final meaning of 'show up' is 'to be there for someone when they need it' and for this usage we need the extra preposition 'for' before the pronoun or person's name. If you are not sure what 'to be there for someone means', think of the theme tune from the 90s sitcom Friends if you know it. If you don't know it, here it is... To be there for someone basically means to be attentive, comforting and supportive to someone when they are having a bad time or are feeling sad, depressed or upset. In other words, to be a good friend or relative to someone. To 'show up for someone' to mean 'to be there for someone' is a relatively new usage of 'show up' and is found primarily in American English, although it would be certainly be understood by many British speakers, particularly younger ones. Examples of usage.... My best friends showed up for me when I broke up with my last boyfriend. When your husband or wife needs support, you should always be the first person to show up for them. EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to show up'.... We didn't see any signs of the disease on the test results. Despite putting the background on my video call, the picture on wall still appeared on the computer screen. This article reveals the truth about John; that he is an adulterer and a liar. My mother really embarrassed me in front of all my friends yesterday. My birthday party started at 8pm but nobody arrived until after 9pm. Lisa was there for Helen when her father was sick. The answers will be available on next week's post. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'TAKE ON' (other variations may be possible) Due to high growth in the company, we are looking to TAKE ON some new staff. I needed some extra money so I've TAKEN ON a new part time job at the weekends. Birmingham City are TAKING ON the league champions Manchester City this evening. The song has become really popular and has TAKEN ON a life of its own. The ferry stopped at Dover to TAKE ON passengers. She has TAKEN IT UPON herself to start doing the accounting reports every day without checking with any of her colleagues. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'show up' below. I really love reading them. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form below. See you next time! James

A detailed explanation of how to use the phrasal verb 'let up' correctly like a native speaker. Hello and welcome to this instalment of Phrasal Verbs Explained; a blog which aims to help you understand English phrasal verbs in a clear and coherent way, so that you can use them to improve your language level and sound more like a native speaker. If you want to receive new blog posts directly email every week, please sign up on the form at the end of the post. The phrasal verb 'let up' is a lesser known phrasal verb but is nevertheless a great one to have in your vocabulary as it can be used in many different situations. In the post we'll look at its three different meanings and how they are used by native speakers along with some additional tips for you. Read on to find out more.... LET UP: KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here BASICS To begin, let's take a look at the individual components of 'let up' and what they mean individually as this can often help with the phrasal verb meanings. Our main verb is the irregular verb 'to let', which you will probably know as it is a very common English verb with various meanings, however perhaps the main meaning, and the meaning that is relevant for the phrasal verb 'let up', is to permit or to allow something. We then have the prepositional particle up, meaning to move from a lower point to a higher point or away from the ground ⬆️ ⬆️ ⬆️. So, now we have that in mind, the first of the meanings of 'let up' should be nice and easy for you... MEANING 1: Literal Imagine that you want to go for dinner in an exclusive restaurant, which is on the second floor of a building. You arrive at the door of the building (downstairs) and ask if there is availability for a table to have a meal. The staff then check the bookings and how busy they are in order to make a decision about whether or not to let you up to the restaurant. The above example is exactly how we use 'let up' in a literal sense in English, i.e. to allow someone to come or go up to a place (normally a room). When used literally, 'let up' is separable and the direct object, normally a person, goes between the two words. Please note that it does not go afterwards. As you can imagine, this usage is limited to very specific situations and often an alternative such as 'let in' can be used. 'Let up' is a little bit more specific than 'let in' though, as it includes extra spatial information, so if you can ever use it, it will help your English to sound a little more like a native speaker. Examples of usage.... We tried to get into the club upstairs but they were only letting people up who they knew. The police officers refused to let him up the stairs. EXTRA INFORMATION For those of you who are interested in combat sports such as martial arts or karate, it is possible to 'let someone up' if your opponent is on the floor and you are in a dominant position and you allow them to stand up again. MEANING 2: To become less intense or to stop (Idiomatic) So, now we come to the second and most common meaning of the phrasal verb 'to let up', which means to become less intense, to slow down or to stop completely. When native speakers use 'let up' in this way, we are talking about something which we have no control over to make stop or less intense. This is normally (but not always) something negative, most commonly perhaps bad weather such as rain, a storm or snow, which can cause problems or prevent us from doing things. Aside from weather, other nouns that are commonly used with 'let up' are pressure, attacks, work, emails, Covid etc. From a grammatical perspective, 'let up' used in this way has no direct object (intransitive) and so cannot be separated. Moreover, it often appears at the end of a sentence. Examples of usage.... It has been snowing for 24 hours and there is no sign of it letting up. INTENDED MEANING: The snow has been falling for a day and does not appear to be getting less intense or stopping. The pressure I am under at work never seems to let up. INTENDED MEANING: The person is always under pressure at work and it never eases. The football match will start as soon as the rain lets up. INTENDED MEANING Once the rain starts to ease or stops, the football match will start. EXTRA INFORMATION As you may be aware, English native speakers really love creating nouns from verbs and verbs from nouns (a practice called nouning and verbing) and the English language is full of these linguistic creations. 'Let up' is no exception to this and can also be used as a noun. The meaning is exactly the same, however we need to add the word "in" when we want to talk about the thing that we want to stop or reduce in intensity. Examples of usage.... There has been no let-up in the rain today! INTENDED MEANING: It has been raining heavily all day. As soon as there is a let-up in the storm, we will go to the shop. INTENDED MEANING: Once the storm starts to ease, we will go to the shop. MEANING 3: To stop doing something (idiomatic) The third and final usage of 'let up' that we will consider in this post is linked to the second meaning that we have just looked at and primarily means to stop or reduce doing something you are doing. This is specifically when the action that you are doing has been intense or done with determination. The difference with this second meaning is that in this case the person can choose to stop or reduce the intensity of the action. Think of a high profile police investigation where the police actively seek to solve a crime over a long period of time but due to a lack of evidence and results, they decide to reduce their efforts. In such a situation we might say "that after a long period of time the police have let up on the investigation". We could also say the opposite of this i.e. "that the police have not let up on their investigation". If we let up on someone rather than something, it means that we treat them in a more lenient or less severe way than we were treating them before. It could also be used to say that you are being nicer to someone than you were in the past. As you can see from the above police example, the additional preposition 'on' is required here before the indirect object noun. Examples of usage.... The company has let up on its standards since the new management took over. INTENDED MEANING: Since their takeover the company is not enforcing its standards like it was beforehand. The teacher never let up on the students and made sure that they always worked hard. INTENDED MEANING: The teacher always applied pressure on the students to work hard. Bayern Munich didn't let up on their opponents for the whole game. INTENDED MEANING: Bayern Munich played well and applied pressure on the opponents for the whole match. USE IT LIKE A NATIVE SPEAKER! TYPICAL WAYS 'TO LET UP' IS USED IN ENGLISH Memorise and use the sentences below in conversations to help your English come across as more natural and fluent.... As soon as the [noun] lets up, we will..... [Person] just won't let up! There has been no let-up in the [noun]. I think you should let up on [person]. I will never let up until I [verb]. With a bit of luck the [weather] will let up later today. EXERCISE (Answers at the end of the post) Re-write the following sentences using 'to let up'. The security guard isn't allowing anyone else into the bar upstairs now. This hot weather is showing no signs of going away anytime soon. The emails have not stopped coming in all day. MI5 have said that they will not stop their investigation until they catch the perpetrator. My manager has finally started to be a bit more lenient with me. I am not going to stop badgering* you until you finish the work. *To badger is a verb that means to repeatedly ask someone to do something. QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER PRACTICE Has there ever been a time when you have had to cancel plans because the bad weather would not let up? Were your parents lenient with you when you were growing up? If not, do you wish they had let up on you a bit more? Why? Have you ever said that you will never let up on a project or future plan? Did you ever let up on it or did you see it through? EXERCISE ANSWERS (Other variations may be possible) The security guard isn't letting anyone else up to the bar upstairs now. This hot weather is showing no signs of letting up anytime soon. The emails have not let up all day. MI5 have said that they will not let up on their investigation until they catch the perpetrator. My manager has finally started to let up on me a bit. I am not going to let up on you until you finish the work. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please go ahead and share it, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'let up' below. I really love reading them. Don't forget to sign up below if you want to receive posts by email first. See you next time!

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'play up', with examples and exercises. Hello and welcome to my blog all about English phrasal verbs. Each week, I take a different phrasal verb and look at how it is used by native speakers, with a focus on the different meanings that it has and the expressions and idioms that it is used in. This post is all about the phrasal verb 'play up' and its different meanings and uses in English. 'Play up' has a few different meanings, however some of these tend to be more commonly used in British English and so are very familiar to me but they may not be to English speakers in the USA or elsewhere. So, without further ado, let's take a look at these different meanings.... KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here THE BASICS As is customary at the start of each post, we'll start by looking at the component words which make up our phrasal verb under the spotlight. Firstly, we have the verb 'to play', which can mean to take part in a game or sport, as well as to portray a character in a performance in a theatre show or movie etc. This second meaning is the one that is more relevant for the phrasal verb meanings, as you will see shortly. Secondly, we have our prepositional particle up, signifying movement to a higher position away from the ground or towards the sky ⬆. So now we have covered the basics, let's move on to the phrasal verb meanings... MEANING 1: To exaggerate the importance of something The first meaning of 'play up' that we will look up in this post requires a small amount of dishonesty, as the meaning is to exaggerate or emphasise something, in order to make it seem better, more important or more interesting to other people than it really is. In other words, if something is not very important or trivial, but we want other people to think that it is important, we can tell some white lies* and play it up in order to make them think that it is important. The extra emphasis that we place on something when we play it up can be used for both positive and negative purposes; on one hand something could be played up in order to raise publicity for a good cause and on the other hand a small, insignificant detail about someone's past could be played up by another person in order to make them look bad (this often happens in politics). Another key aspect of this meaning is expectation as things are often played up by people in order to increase people's interest levels about something upcoming in the future. A new TV show, a musical performance, a new product being launched onto the market or a baby gender reveal are all things which can be played up by people in order to generate interest. Additional nouns that you may come across with 'play up' are rumours or speculation, both of which could be 'played up' for humorous effect by the people who the rumours are about, especially if they are not true. In terms of sentence structure, this use of 'play up' requires a direct object, which can either be the noun specifying the thing being played up, or the pronoun 'it'. Examples of usage.... The government has been accused of playing up the significance of the tax cuts. INTENDED MEANING: People have accused the government of exaggerating the effect that the tax cuts will have. It was obvious that the footballer was playing up his leg injury. INTENDED MEANING: It was clear to everyone that the footballer was pretending his leg injury was worse than it really was. The media has played up reports of the quarrel between the two politicians. INTENDED MEANING: The media has exaggerated the politicians' argument to make it seem more fierce than it actually was. *White lies are lies that people tell which are generally harmless or trivial in nature, often told in order to hide the truth from someone as it will make them unhappy - this is the good kind of lies 😝 MEANING 2: To not be working properly The second meaning of 'play up' is primarily used in British English and means 'to not work or function properly'. This is often used by (slightly annoyed) British people when they have problems with items such as their car, their computer or smartphone. When we use 'play up' in this sense, we do not mean that the problematic item has stopped working completely and is now out of order, but rather that it is working erratically, developing problems from time to time or is not working to 100% efficiency. This usage is quite an informal one and in more formal settings a verb such as 'to malfunction' may be more appropriate. Despite its informality however, this usage is in frequent usage among British people, so you are likely to hear it from time to time if you have British friends or colleagues. Examples of usage.... I am going to be late into work today as my car is playing up. INTENDED MEANING: I will be late for work because my car has developed a problem. My laptop has been playing up for the last couple of weeks, I think I should get a new one. INTENDED MEANING: My laptop has not been functioning properly for the last few weeks and so I think it would be a good idea to invest in a new one. EXTRA INFORMATION TO SOUND MORE LIKE A NATIVE In addition to complaining about dysfunctional equipment or devices, it is also very common to use 'play up' to describe body parts that are not working properly and causing you health problems as a result. This is typically used to describe chronic problems which come and go, such as back pain or pain from a long term injury and, rather understandably, is used most frequently by the older generation. Examples of usage.... My back is playing up again, I am in agony! INTENDED MEANING: My backache has returned and it is very painful! Speak up! My ears are playing up and I can't hear you properly! INTENDED MEANING: Speak louder, my ears are not so good, so I can't hear what you are saying! Moreover, with this usage it is also very common for people to add an object pronoun (me, you, him, her or them) to say that the particular malfunctioning body part is causing them pain or discomfort. Examples of usage.... My eyes play me up from time to time but that's just a normal part of getting old I guess! INTENDED MEANING: Sometimes my eyes do not work as well as they should but that is all part of the normal aging process. My feet have been playing me up something dreadful since I ran the marathon! INTENDED MEANING: My feet have been very painful ever since I ran the marathon rice. MEANING 3: To misbehave For our third meaning, we have another usage that is primarily used in British English and that is 'to misbehave'. Logically, this is really the same as the previous meaning, however instead of a device or body part not working in the way it should, we are rather talking about a person not behaving in the way that they should, in other words they are misbehaving. As this meaning is primarily concerned with bad behaviour, it will come as no surprise to you that it is used often to talk about naughty children. However, we can certainly also use it to talk about pets (my cats play up all the time) and occasionally even adults. Again, this usage is largely informal and more formal alternatives such as 'to misbehave' should be used in formal environments. Furthermore, it is also possible to play someone up. We use this variation when someone is responsible for looking after a child e.g. a babysitter, and the child misbehaves whilst in that person's care. We could then say that the child plays the babysitter up. Examples of usage.... The kids were so well behaved today, they didn't play up once! INTENDED MEANING: The children behaved well today and were not naughty at all. Our cats have started playing up ever since the building work on our home started. INTENDED MEANING: Our cats have started to be badly behaved since our home renovations started. Ok children, we are off now so please do not play the babysitter up. INTENDED MEANING: We are leaving now, so please behave well for the childminder. Meaning 4: To influence someone to make them like you Our fourth and final meaning of 'play up' is a return to the dishonesty that we looked at in the first meaning of this post because it means to act in a certain way in order to make someone like you and treat you well. This could be by flattering them, doing something to help them or buying them gifts - regardless of the action however, the ultimate aim is to gain some sort of advantage from them. For this usage the additional preposition 'to' is required since we 'play up to' the person that we are trying to impress. A typical example of when this is used would be in work environments when someone wants to play up to the boss in order to get a promotion or special treatment of some sort. This usage is not limited to the world of work though and can be found in any situation where someone wants to gain an advantage with another person. Example of usage.... Lisa is blatantly playing up to the boss, she's desperate to get his secretary's job! INTENDED MEANING: It's obvious that Lisa is trying to impress the boss, she really wants to get his secretary's job. BONUS Before finishing this post, I want to give you one more expression which features our phrasal verb 'play up'. The expression in question is 'to play up for the camera', which is used to describe when a person acts in a certain way when they are being filmed, in order to come across well. The idea is that they do not not normally act that way in reality and their behaviour is all just for the camera. Another variation of this is also 'to play up to the camera'. EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to play up'.... The politician emphasised his rival's past connections with a criminal gang. The marketing department told the employees that the seminar was very important but it was a waste of time! John's car has not been working properly for the last couple of weeks. My cat Arthur misbehaved a lot yesterday. Helen gets back pain from time to time. Look at the way that Lisa acts around the boss - she is clearly desperate for a promotion! The answers will be available on next week's post. EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'GET BY' (other variations may be possible) Can you move your car please? I need to GET BY. My ancestors GOT BY on a diet of mostly bread, meat and vegetables. My car is not ideal but I can GET BY with it until I can afford a new one. You can GET BY onto the next stage with this result but you could have done better. My brother GETS BY on a low salary. We managed to GET BY the police barrier without anyone seeing us. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'play up' below. I really love reading them. See you next time! James

An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'bring up', with examples and exercises. Hello and welcome to my blog all about English phrasal verbs. This post is all about the phrasal verb 'bring up', which has very varied and diverse meanings, especially compared to some of the recent phrasal verbs that I have covered such as 'look at' and 'take over'. In this post we will consider the different meanings that it has and also look at some common expressions that it is used in. So let's not beat around the bush* any longer and let's get started.... *'To beat around the bush' is an idiom in English meaning to talk about things that are not important and not get to the point. KEY INFORMATION For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here THE BASICS To 'bring up' is a phrasal verb with very diverse meanings and consists of the verb 'to bring', meaning to take something to a place with you, and the prepositional particle 'up', meaning in the direction away from the ground or towards the sky ↑. I know from experience of teaching English that the verb 'to bring' can often be confused with the related verb 'to take'. The difference between these two verbs is mainly to do with the position of the speaker and the direction of movement. Both verbs can mean to carry something to a place. If the object is carried towards them, we use 'to bring' and if the object is carried away from where they are speaking, we use 'to take'. Can you bring me some water please? (Here the speaker is not moving and wants the water to come to them, where they are speaking.) I will take some sandwiches with me to work tomorrow. (Here, the speaker is going to move from where they are speaking to go to work and the sandwiches will go with them.) The above is just a brief overview of the differences between these two verbs and more detailed explanations are available elsewhere online. I just wanted to make you aware of the main differences here before we look at the phrasal verb meanings. So, without further hesitation, let's check them out.... MEANING 1: Literal 'Bring up' is used is commonly used in its literal sense by native speakers as it is merely the verb 'to bring' with the directional element of up ↑. So, this would typically be used when someone is upstairs in a house or building or in a higher physical position the person who they are talking to and they want someone to bring them something up to where they are. One thing to note here is that we normally insert the object pronoun such as me, him, her, them etc. between 'bring' and 'up'. I think this literal meaning is quite easy and straightforward to understand, so we'll move on to the next meanings but before we go, here are a couple of examples to illustrate usage.... Can you bring me up some water when you come to bed? As it is your birthday tomorrow, I will bring you up some breakfast in bed. MEANING 2: To raise a child The first non-literal meaning of 'bring up' that we will consider is similar to the common phrasal verb 'grow up', but while 'grow up' simply refers to the process of growing from a child to an adult, we use 'bring up' to talk about how our parents (or primary caregivers), look after, teach and shape us during the growing up process. This can be used to talk about where we lived during our childhood, as well as the beliefs and values that we were taught during this time. It is used by native speakers commonly in both an active and a passive sense alike. In the active sense, we are talking about the parents or caregivers who are the subjects of the verb and in the passive sense we to talk about ourselves or other people and what was taught and experienced during the growing up process. Examples of usage.... My parents brought me up to always say please and thank you and to treat everyone with respect. INTENDED MEANING: My parents taught me to always be respectful and have good manners when I was growing up. He was brought up in an orphanage and never knew his birth parents. INTENDED MEANING: He was cared for in an orphanage as a child and never met his real parents. Lisa managed to bring up four children all by herself after her husband tragically died. INTENDED MEANING: Lisa was able to single-handedly raise four children after the tragic death of her husband. EXTRA INFORMATION TO SOUND MORE LIKE A NATIVE The noun 'upbringing' is derived specifically from this usage of 'bring up' and is used to refer to how a person was treated, educated and shaped when they were growing up. Example of usage.... I had a very strict upbringing and so I have tried to be a little more relaxed with my own children. There are also a couple of other expressions that exist with this usage of 'bring up' that I want to make you aware of.... Were you brought up in a barn? This is a variation of the rhetorical question "Were you born in a barn?" and is aimed at someone who leaves a door open in a room, particularly if it is cold or draughty. Were you brought up or dragged up? This is another rhetorical question which can be aimed at someone who doesn't behave well, implying that their parents did not teach them how to behave properly when they were growing up. Both of the above are normally used in a humorous way and are not meant to cause offence, however it could be offensive if said in an unfriendly way, or if you do not have the right sort of relationship with the person. Meaning 3: To introduce into a conversation Our next meaning of 'bring up' is very different to the previous one that we've just looked at and means to introduce a topic or subject of discussion into a conversation. The idea behind this is that the person who brings the subject up, wants to do so for a particular reason, i.e. the subject did not enter into the discussion by chance, in which case the phrasal verb 'come up' (post coming soon) would be applicable. This can be heard often in business English, especially when talking about meetings and agendas for subjects that need to be discussed. It is also equally common to use it outside of the business world, when talking about general conversations or discussions. Examples of usage.... I've made a note of the issue and I will bring it up at the next management meeting. INTENDED MEANING: I have noted the problem and will raise it in the next management meeting. Why did you have to bring that up in front of my parents?! You know their views on the subject! INTENDED MEANING: Why did you mention that when my parents were there when you know how they feel about the matter. I didn't want to bring up the funeral yesterday as I could see that you were already upset. INTENDED MEANING: I could see that you were sad yesterday and so I didn't want to mention anything about the funeral. MEANING 4: To vomit Ok, so the next meaning is not the most pleasant of meanings, but it is worth covering nonetheless! Our next meaning of 'bring up' literally means to vomit or to be sick*. The focus here is not so much on the vomiting action itself, but rather on what is being expelled from the stomach and could be for example blood, poison or something that you have swallowed that you should not have done. It is also possible to use 'bring up' in this sense with coughing, for example with phlegm. We can also use the more specific phrasal verb 'to cough up' here as a synonym. Examples of usage.... The dog was very sick and was bringing up lots of blood but luckily it was not life-threatening and he has made a full recovery now. INTENDED MEANING: The dog was poorly and was vomiting blood but thankfully he has now returned to good health. My 3-year old son swallowed a small toy part but he brought it up again shortly afterwards before any harm was done. INTENDED MEANING: My young son swallowed a small part of a toy but then was sick and it came back out again. *As a side note, don't forget that 'to be sick' in English can mean to have an illness or disease and also to vomit. The context is key here to understand which one we mean. Meaning 5: To cause to appear on a screen Our next meaning of 'bring up' is one that has become MUCH more widespread over the last few decades as it is used particularly with IT and computers and means to cause something to appear on your screen. This is normally used when we click on something to open it, such as a document or web page, but is also used extremely commonly when talking about the results of a search on a search engine (naming no names, you know the ones I'm talking about!). Examples of usage.... If you right click with your mouse, it will bring up a menu. INTENDED MEANING: If you right click, a menu will appear on your screen. Can you bring up the results of the test on your screen for me? INTENDED MEANING: Can you open the test results on your screen so I can see them. When I looked up the question online it brought lots of irrelevant results up. INTENDED MEANING: When I searched for the answer to a question on a search engine, there were a lot of unrelated answers in the results. Meaning 6: To come to a sudden stop This sixth meaning of 'bring up' is a rarer one than some of the meanings that we have already covered and means to cause a vehicle to come to a sudden stop. This is especially used for cars, but could be used for all types of vehicles, including boats, where it is specifically used for dropping an anchor in order to stop it. Example of usage.... They decided to bring up the ship in the harbour for the night due to the bad weather. INTENDED MEANING: They made the decision to drop anchor and stay in the harbour overnight because of the inclement weather conditions. IDIOM ALERT I think that this is a good time to introduce an idiom with 'bring up' that is linked to this particular meaning. The idiom 'to bring someone up short' is a fairly common expression that is used to express when someone stops what they are doing because something has surprised or shocked them. Example of usage.... I was having a productive day yesterday until an email from my boss brought me up short. INTENDED MEANING: I was getting a lot of work done yesterday until I received an email from my boss which surprised me and put me off. Meaning 7: To update or improve This seventh and final meaning of 'bring up' that I wanted to include in the post is when it is used to describe the process of updating or improving something. When we use it to talk about updating, we can mean updating a machine, a product, a building or anything else which can be modernised and to express this, we normally use the expression 'to bring something up to date'. Moreover, we can also use it to mean updating a person, so that they have all of the most recent information about a given topic or situation. In this case, we often use the expression "to bring someone up to speed". 'Bring up' can also be used to mean improving something (often, incidentally, by modernising it) and is normally used when there are certain standards that something must meet. In this case, we are likely to use the expression 'to bring something up to standard'. Examples of usage.... The interior designers are planning to bring the interior of the castle up to date. INTENDED MEANING: The interior designers plan on modernising the interior of the castle. I had a meeting with Roger earlier and he brought me up to speed with everything that I missed whilst I was on holiday. INTENDED MEANING: Roger gave me all of the latest information about what happened when I was on holiday in our meeting. The teaching in the school was very poor so a team was sent there to bring it up to standard. INTENDED MEANING: The standard of teaching in the school was not good so a team were despatched there to improve it to the level it should be. Before I finish the post, I just want to give you a bonus expression featuring our phrasal verb of choice 'bring up'. The expression in question is 'to bring up the rear' and is quite appropriate to have at the end of this post as it means to be the last one of a group or category. This is most often used when talking about the last people in a queue, line or group of people who are going somewhere. EXERCISE Re-write the following sentences using 'to bring up'.... My parents raised me to always stand up for myself. I have something that I would like to talk about in tomorrow's meeting. When I searched for concert tickets on the internet it only showed me tickets available in a different country. Can you please get me some water! It's hot up here on this roof. I was looking at my phone during the performance but suddenly one song made me stop and pay attention. Can you please tell me what the latest is with the new project? EXERCISE ANSWERS FROM 'LOOK AT' (other variations may be possible) Look at this picture of me when I was younger! I love cloudless nights when I can look at the stars. The doctor wants to look at my injuries and make sure everything is ok. We are carefully looking at our next options. If only you would look at it from our perspective! The way I look at things now is very different to when I was a young man. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'bring up' below. I really love reading them. See you next time! James

A detailed explanation of how to use the phrasal verb 'grow up' correctly like a native speaker. Hello and welcome everyone to this instalment of Phrasal Verbs Explained; a blog which aims to help you understand English phrasal verbs in a clear and coherent way, so that you can improve your language level and sound more like a native speaker. This week's post is all about the well known phrasal verb 'to grow up', which many of you will be very familiar with, however are you familiar with the other less well known meanings? Read on to find out more.... KEY INFORMATION: For more explanation of the terms in the table above, click here MEANING 1: Literal To begin with, let's look at the individual components of the phrasal verb 'to grow up', as this will help us understand the rarer literal meaning. Firstly, we have the verb 'to grow', meaning to increase in size or height and then we have the particle 'up', meaning in the direction away from the ground or towards the sky ↑. The literal meaning of 'grow up' is simply a variation of the verb 'to grow', just with additional emphasis on the upwards direction. As the idea of 'up' is already implicit in the idea of the verb 'to grow', the use of 'grow up' to describe something growing in size is not normally necessary in English. As a result, this literal usage is very rare. If we do use it, it is mainly for describing the growth of plants and, more rarely, hair or nails and is used to emphasise that something is growing in an up ↑ direction, rather than down ↓ or out ←→(across). We do not use 'grow up' to describe people getting taller. To do this we only use 'grow'. It is also possible to use the construction 'to grow up + noun' to talk about when a plant grows up the surface of another object. Examples of usage.... Plants grow up and not down or out because they need sunlight. The ivy has been growing up the wall for many years. Another form that we can use and that you should be aware of is 'to grow upwards'. The prefix -wards in English is always used to identify a direction of movement, so 'to grow upwards' is a nice alternative way to say that something is growing in an up direction. This is also a very natural way of saying it. Furthermore, if growth is happening towards something e.g. the sky, we can use the construction 'to grow up towards + noun'.... Examples of usage.... The sunflower that we planted last year is growing up towards the roof of the house. Plants naturally grow upwards in search of sunlight. MEANING 2 - To grow from a child to an adult (Idiomatic) In English, the main usage of 'to grow up' by far is the one which you probably already know, which is to grow from a child to an adult. This is usually used to describe the PROCESS of growing from an adult to a child over time. This can be in a physical sense and also in a mental or spiritual sense. To grow up is only used to describe people and is not generally used to talk about animals or businesses. In usage, it is often used by adults to refer to their past or the period of time when they were a child..... Examples of usage.... I grew up in Birmingham, close to a really big park, which we played in every summer. When I was growing up I hated school but now that I am an adult, I wish I could go back! Also, children often use it to talk about what job they want to do when they become an adult.... When I grow up I want to be a doctor and have an enormous house with a swimming pool. WHAT IF WE WANT TO USE IT AS AN IMPERATIVE? 'Grow up' is often used by native speakers as an imperative ("Grow up!") to show annoyance when someone is acting in a silly way or like a child. Example of usage.... Oh grow up, John! It's really not funny! You may already be familiar with the noun 'grown up', which is a synonym for 'adult', meaning a person who has finished the growing up process or has grown up. Examples of usage.... My daughter wants to be a police officer when she grows up. INTENDED MEANING: My daughter wants to be a police officer when she is an adult. He was born in Edinburgh but he grew up in Glasgow. INTENDED MEANING: He lived in Glasgow as a child and continued to live there until he became a young adult. I had blond hair when I was growing up. INTENDED MEANING: In the period of time when I was a child / teenager I had blond hair. Whoever is playing these jokes on me needs to grow up! It's not funny! INTENDED MEANING: The person responsible for the jokes is not a child and should stop acting like one as it is annoying me. EXTRA POINT TO SOUND LIKE A NATIVE #1 If we want to talk about who or what a person will be at the end of the growing up process, it is necessary to add the extra preposition 'into'..... Examples of usage.... I see that you have grown up into a fine young man! INTENDED MEANING: The person has recently reached adulthood and the speaker thinks that he either is very handsome or attractive. There are many child actors who grow up into Hollywood film stars. INTENDED MEANING: A lot of child actors become Hollywood film stars when they become adults. EXTRA POINT TO SOUND LIKE A NATIVE #2 One way to talk about something that we did often or regularly when we were children is to use the simple past form of the verb (grew up), followed by the verb or action in the continuous ('ing) form. This is often (but not always) with verbs related to the senses e.g. to watch, to listen to etc. Examples of usage.... I grew up listening to Michael Jackson and Madonna music and so I still love their songs today. My mother is Polish, my father is German and I live in the USA, so I grew up speaking three languages. IDIOMATIC MEANING 2 - To start to develop A second, much rarer and advanced idiomatic meaning of 'to grow up' means to begin to exist. This is not used to talk about people, but rather abstract items such as ideas as well as towns and cities. As it is used to talk about the origin of things, it is often used in historical contexts. Examples of usage.... The idea grew up in the 17th century during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. INTENDED MEANING: The idea was first conceived and started to become popular during the time when Elizabeth I was the Queen of England. The river made trading possible and as a result many towns grew up alongside it. INTENDED MEANING: Many towns developed along the side of the river because it enabled trading to take place. SPEAK LIKE A NATIVE: TYPICAL EXAMPLES OF HOW “TO GROW UP' IS USED BY NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS If you can memorise some of the sentences below and use them in a conversation, it will help your English to come across as more natural and like that of a native speaker. You'll need to use your imagination to complete some of them. When I grow up I want to....... When I was growing up I...... He / she is growing up so fast! It's about time you grew up and got.... I want my children and grandchildren to grow up in a world where..... [Person] and I grew up together. [Gerund] is a natural part of growing up. It is very close to the city where I grew up. EXERCISE Re-write the sentences below using 'grow up': When I am an adult I want to have a house close to my parents. Sometimes I wish you would stop acting so childishly! She spent her childhood in New York The concept of trick or treating at Halloween developed in the USA after a lot of people emigrated there from Ireland King Henry VIII became a very talented huntsman as an adult During my childhood and teenage years, I listened to a lot of reggae music (Answers at the end of the post) POTENTIAL IELTS QUESTIONS Should children grow up in the city or in the countryside? Where did you grow up? Describe it. Is it better to grow up with or without siblings? OTHER OPEN QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER PRACTICE What is your favourite memory of when you were growing up? Did you have a skill or talent when you were growing up that you no longer have? What was it? If you could have grown up in a different place, where would you have chosen to live? Has your taste in music changed since you were growing up? How has the village, town or city where you grew up changed since that time? EXERCISE ANSWERS (other variations may be possible) When I grow up I want to have a house close to my parents. Sometimes I wish you would grow up! She grew up in New York. The concept of trick or treating at Halloween grew up in the USA after a lot of people emigrated there from Ireland. King Henry VIII grew up into a very talented huntsman as an adult. Growing up, I listened to a lot of reggae music. That is the end of today's post. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and I sincerely hope that it has helped you a little bit further on your English learning journey. If you found the post useful, please go ahead and share it, so together we can help as many English learners as possible to understand and master these tricky phrasal verbs. Also, please leave any comments, questions, suggestions or examples of 'grow up' below. I really love reading them. See you next time!