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.
It is perfect.
May you send to me phonetics and phonology plus conjugation of verbs’ table.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for teach us everyday
Peerless Pearson:
Don’t you think, ‘up’ at times create redundancy?
hi pearson,
really appreciate for your time preparing and sending all these english lessons to me every day.
i have a quick question for you.
i would say my english understanding is fine, but being an asian i had been having issue with my english writing/ presenting my thought, not sure which area i m weak in ????. i am terrible with have/ has, is/ are/ was, with/ without the ‘s’…
hope you can tell me what area is that???