EXERCISES IN ENGLISH PHRASAL VERBS WITH “UP”
A. Increasing and Improving ~ Part 1
back up bring up brush up build up
cheer up do up dress up go up
1. The more bills you can include to back up 1 your claim, the happier the finance department will be.
2. I brought up two children alone.
3. I need to brush up my English: I haven`t used it for seven years.
4. We helped to build up the wealth of this country.
5. Herfriends tried to cheer her up, telling her she wasn`t missing much.
6. They wanted payment in cash for doing up 1 the kitchen of one of his cottages.
7. Rather than sit at home, they all get dressed up and go out.
8. The price of petrol and oil related products will go up steadily
Notes.
1 Support means almost the same as back up.
There is also a noun:
- ...the tremendous computer back-up which each mission required.
2 Renovate is a more formal word for do up.

I. Match the sentences and phrases on the left with those on the right.
1. Body temperature doesn’t stay fixed at 98.4 F.
2. If too much pressure builds up,
3. Another mistake.
4. She bought strawberries
5. We should back up the system everyevening,
6. Fathers are beginning to play a bigger role
7. The theatre was horrible,
8. She was glad that she was all dressed up
A. in bringing up children, with benefits to everyone.
B. You need to brush up your shorthand,
C. to cheer herself up.
D. It is always going up and down a little, depending on the
time of day.
E. and had done her hair that morning.
F. done up as cheaply as possible.
G. if not we risk losing a lot of data.
H. it will explode.

1. …2. …3. …4. …5. …7. …8. …
II. Choose the best alternative from the phrasal verbs given to fill in the space provided.
1 The cost of the thing you want to buy can have.....................a lot by the time you have saved enough to pay for it.
built up gone up brought up
2. Their demands for independence w
backed up brushed up cheered up
3. His organizational knowledge and personal reputation has................the business
cheered up done up built up
4. Why don’t we buy some flowers to......................the place...............a bit?
build up cheer up dress up
5. We’re going to buy a small cottage in the country to....................when we retire.
do up build up go up
6. I can’t be bothered to..........................this evening.
cheer up dress up brush up
7. I’ve got a four-year-old son to.........................on my own.
build up bring up brush up
8. I would like to...........................my zoology.
dress up brush up back up
III. Write the correct form of the appropriate phrasal verb in the space provided.
1. You can make quite a lot of money..............................old properties.
2. These were the children who had been properly....................without parental lies and lectures.
3. When you go shopping all you hear is how everything has............................
4. She helped them to......................their French.
5. This claim is.............................by the fact that every year more and more money is being spent on arms.
6 We`re trying to.......................a collection of herbs and spices.
7. I never get....................................when I’m invited somewhere, I always go as I am.
8. ..............................! It’s not the end of the world, you know.

II. Increasing and Improving ~ Part 2
grow up pick up push up save up
speak up speed up stir up
1. Children should grow up with a fond attitude towards all humanity.
2. The economy is picking up 1.
3. The Rank of Japan rightly judged that it was too early to push up interest rates to defend the yen.
4. They’re saving up money for a holiday.
5. Could you please speak up. We can’t hear you at the back.
6. Never befrightened of speaking up foryour beliefs.
7. Bad housing and poverty speed up 2 the breakdown of family life.
8. He was prevented from speaking on the grounds that it would stir up 3 trouble.
Notes.
1 Look up means almost the same as pick up, but it is more informal.
2 Accelerate is a more formal word for speed up.
3 Provoke