Hi. This is Gill at www.engvid.com,
and in today's lesson we're going to be looking at some phrasal verbs
using the preposition "up". So, a phrasal verb, just to remind you, is
the verb plus the preposition. So, in this case, the preposition in all of these examples
is "up", so it's being put with a main verb to turn it into a phrasal verb. Okay?
So let's have a look at what we have here.
So, first of all: "Children love to dress up."
Okay? Children like to put clothes on,
maybe their mother's clothes, put makeup on, ear rings, all sorts of things to dress up.
So, that's the phrasal verb. "To dress up" is to put sort of special clothes on for,
you know, just for fun really. Adults dress up as well if they're going somewhere special.
"Oh, we'll have to dress up for this party",
put some jewellery on and a long full-length's
dress or a tuxedo with a bowtie, all that sort of thing. Dressing up in special clothes
for a special occasion. Okay? Dressing up.
Second one: "It's time to drink up - the bar is closing." So, "to drink up" is to finish
your drink. Drink up, you're putting the glass up like that to finish your drink because
the bar is closing and you have to go, so you don't want to leave your drink there.
You want to drink it because you paid for it, so you don't want to waste it. Okay.
Right, now, this is a common complaint that somebody in the household:
And we have the noun from this: "the washing up", which is about washing the dishes
after a meal. "He never washes up.",
"To wash up" means washing all the dishes after a meal.
Okay.
Now, next one, if there's a word you don't know:
"I don't know that word - I'll have to look it up."
So the phrasal verb is "to look up". But you'll notice that the pronoun
"it" has to go in the middle there. You don't... You can't say: "I have to look up it."
You have to put the pronoun in the middle: "I have to look it up."
Okay. Right, so and "looking it up", that means getting the dictionary
or using a computer, looking for the word
to find the meaning. "Looking it up" means find the page, look down the page:
"Ah, there it is. What does it mean? Ah, okay."
Looking up, referring to a book or referring to a
website to find out the definition.
Okay, next one: "I can't hear you - please speak up."
Okay? "Speak up" means get louder,
say it louder. "I can't hear you. Please speak up. Turn up the volume." Okay? "Speak up".
Okay, next one, you're studying and you say:
"I'm having to read up on Shakespeare for the test next week."
So, if you "read up" on a subject that means you're reading lots
of information about the subject. You're finding books, you're finding websites, all sorts
of sources to get lots of information, learning all the information, get it into your head
for a test, for the test next week.
"Reading up" means to gather information about a subject.
Okay.
Right. Now, this next one is not a very nice thing to say to somebody, especially if they're
"When are you going to grow up?" Okay?
It's okay... If you say it to a child, that doesn't really make sense
because a child hasn't grown up yet. But people tend
to say this to adults because if an adult is behaving in a very silly way like a child,
a childish way, somebody might say to them:
"When are you going to grow up?"
Meaning become mature. "Grow up" can mean to get taller,
but it also means to become more sensible,
more mature, you know, be a more responsible adult person. Okay. Rather than messing about
Okay, next one: "You've really messed that up."
So, mess... "To mess up", if you mess up...
And again, you'll see another word comes in between, but this is the phrasal verb:
"to mess up". "To mess something up" is to do something badly.
not very good. If you mess something up, you've made a very bad job of it. You've not done
it at all well. You've done it very badly. Okay.
Next one: "What are you cooking up now?"
So, "to cook up", you might think this is some
food that you're cooking in the kitchen, but in this sense it's more metaphorical. If you
cook something up, you're planning something. And the sense of it is you're being quite
devious about it. It's something a bit, you know, not quite right.
"Cooking something up" means having a plan to do something a bit...
"What are you cooking up now? What are you planning?" Okay.
And then finally: "You're making it all up, aren't you?" So, again,
there's our phrasal verb: "to make up",
but this time we have two words in between: "it" whatever it is
and "all". You can just say: "You're making it up, aren't you?"
But if you say: "You're making it all up", this really means you're inventing something.
It's not true. It's untrue, it's false, it's fiction. But maybe a policeman interviewing
a suspect and the suspect has done a crime, but they have some... They say:
"Oh no, I wasn't in that shop yesterday. I didn't steal that television. I was somewhere else.
But it's not true. They're making it up. They're making up a story which is not true.
Okay? So: "You're making it all up, aren't you?" Okay.
So, I hope that's been interesting and helpful for you.
If you'd like to take a quiz on this topic, go to the website www.engvid.com,