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Today I have a very common and useful phrasal verb to teach you. It’s “come up”, and it has two basic meanings.

1. for a subject to be mentioned in conversation. For example:

When I was talking with my friends last night, the subject of plastic surgery came up.

I don’t like going out with my boyfriend’s co-workers because work problems always come up in their conversation. I hate it when they talk shop in front of me!

A: How did the subject of Chinese opera come up at dinner?

B: Bill brought it up because he recently went to China and saw an opera there.

2. for a problem to suddenly happen. For example:

I’m sorry, but something has come up at my office, and I have to go deal with it.

I hope no problems come up with my project while I’m on vacation.

If any problems with the children come up, please contact us at this hotel in Hawaii.

With the first meaning there is a difference between “bring up” and “come up”. As you can see in my third example, we use “come up” when saying that a subject was mentioned, but we don’t say who mentioned it. If we say who mentioned it, we use “bring up”. As you can see, we often use “the subject of” followed by the conversation topic with this meaning.

The second meaning of “come up” is very useful when we don’t want to give details about a problem which has happened, so we simply say that something has “come up”. This is a very natural and common expression, especially for business people.

I have a nice and easy phrasal verb for you today, but it’s one which is very useful. It is the expression “use up”.  We use it when we want to talk about using all of something until there is none of it left. For example:

Peter used up all the toothpaste yesterday, so we have to buy some more today.

All the toothpaste has been used up, so we have to buy some more today. (passive voice)

We’ll probably use up all the toilet paper by the end of the week, so we should get some more.

I’m so tired right now. I was playing with my kids all day, and I used up all my energy.

Don’t use up all the gas in the barbeque. I need it to cook some steaks this weekend.

So we use this expression with items such as gas, toothpaste, and toilet paper, but we can also use it with non physical things such as energy (as in the fourth example). However, please note that we cannot use it when talking about food or drinks.

The phrasal verb for this week is “set up”, and it has a few meanings. Let me go over the various ways to use it.

1. to assemble or prepare something for use. For example:

Can you help me set up the computer? I don’t know how to do it.

My computer needs to be set up. Can you help me? (passive voice)

We have to set up all this equipment before the meeting starts.

All this equipment has to be set up before the meeting starts. (passive voice)

2. to frame someone for a crime. For example:

I just saw a movie in which a man killed his wife and then set up his best friend for the murder.

I didn’t kill Jack’s wife! Jack killed her and then set me up!

I’m being set up for the murder of Jack’s wife! (passive voice)

3. to establish a business. For example:

I want to set up my own business, but I know it’s going to be difficult.

I tried to set up my own business, but the bank wouldn’t give me a loan.

4. to establish someone else in business. For example:

My uncle set me up in the restaurant business. I couldn’t have done it without his financial support.

I was set up in the restaurant business by my uncle. (passive voice)

I wish I knew someone who could set me up in business, but I have to do it myself.

5. to arrange a blind date for someone. For example:

Can you set me up with your cousin? I think she’s really pretty.

A: Are you seeing anyone right now? I have a friend, and I think you’d really like him.

B: Are you trying to set me up? I hate blind dates!

The second meaning of “set up” is usually only for movies and TV shows. That’s the kind of language we hear all the time when watching suspense shows or movies. If you’re not sure, to “frame” someone for a crime means to make it seem like another person committed a crime that you did yourself.

Also, please note that with the last meaning of “set up”, in the case of the blind date, we have to use “with” between “set up” and the person who will go on the blind date.

This will be my final blog entry for 2010! It’s hard to believe this year has gone by so quickly! I’m going to finish with a phrasal verb because it’s Friday. The one I want to write about is “rope into”. It is used when we want to talk about a person using their influence to have another person do something they don’t really want to do. For example:

I didn’t really want to perform in the show, but Jerry roped me into it. He said they were desperate to find someone.

I was roped into performing in the show. (passive voice)

I can’t believe Susan is working on her day off. Her boss must have roped her into it.

A: How did you get roped into doing all this work by yourself?

B: My wife is sick and no one else had time to help, so that’s how I got roped into it. (passive voice)

You can try to remember this expression by imagining the person using a rope to tie the other person’s hands together and leading them away to do the thing they don’t want to do.

I wish all of my readers a very happy New Year, and I hope I will be able to continue to help you with English in 2011!

Today I have an expression which is good for the holidays: “pig out”. It is used to talk about eating a lot of food. For example:

My friend and I pigged out on spaghetti at an Italian restaurant last night.

My family and I always pig out on Christmas Day. My mom makes so much food.

Don’t pig out when you go to the buffet! The last time you did that you had a stomachache.

When we talk about the particular food we eat a lot of, we use the preposition “on” between “pig out” and the food, as in the first example.

The phrasal verb for this week is related to the adjective I wrote about on Wednesday: “stuck up”. The phrasal verb is “look down on”. It is used when we want to talk about a person who thinks of another person as being inferior to themselves. Therefore, stuck up people often look down on others. For example:

Grant is such a stuck up snob! He looks down on me just because I don’t have much money or an expensive education.

I’m tired of being looked down on by Grant. (passive voice)

I know I shouldn’t, but I tend to look down on women who read cheap romance novels.

My parents look down on my girlfriend because she’s a waitress, but I don’t care what they think.

I used to look down on people who have blue collar jobs, but I don’t anymore.

Obviously, looking down on other people is bad, but most people do it sometimes.

Previously I wrote about the phrasal verb “talk into”. This means to persuade someone to do something. Today, I would like to write about the phrasal verb with the opposite meaning: “talk out of”. This, of course, means to persuade someone not to do something. For example:

Jane was planning to get a tattoo of a dragon on her back, but her boyfriend talked her out of it.

Jane was talked out of getting a tattoo of a dragon on her back by her boyfriend. (passive voice)

My parents talked my brother out of moving to New York.

My brother was talked out of moving to New York by my parents. (passive voice)

A: My father wants to make the whole family go camping together this weekend, but nobody likes camping except him.

B: Maybe your mom can talk him out of it.

I tried to talk my friend out of buying that car, but he wouldn’t listen to me. Now he really regrets buying it.

So, in the last example, when we say we “tried to” talk someone out of something, it means that we failed and the person did the action despite our advice. I hope this is clear to everyone.

The phrasal verb for today is “let up”, and it is used in two different ways in English.

1. for a bad weather condition to stop (often rain). For example:

It’s been raining hard all day, and the forecast says it won’t let up until tomorrow.

It looks like the rain is starting to let up, so we can finally walk home.

If the storm lets up by tonight, we can go to the party.

2. for someone to decrease the intensity of their treatment of another person. For example:

When my father gets angry, he starts to yell, and he doesn’t let up for a long time.

My mother and father have really been pressuring me to get married. I wish they would just let up.

My friend has been asking me to lend him money, and he just won’t let up. It’s really annoying!

So, in both cases, the phrasal verb “let up” has the meaning of “stop”. In the first case, it means for a bad weather condition to stop, and in the second case, it means for someone’s difficult behavior towards another person to stop.

Today, I’d like to write about the phrasal verb “point out”. We use this expression in two ways in English.

1. to indicate where something is by pointing. For example:

I don’t know which building city hall is. Could you point it out to me please?

My new co-worker didn’t know who the boss was, so I had to point him out for her.

2. for someone to indicate a problem with someone else’s idea. For example:

It’s an interesting business idea you have. I hate to point this out to you, but you don’t have enough money to open a business.

It was pointed out to me that we don’t have enough money to open a business. (passive voice)

We decided to have dinner before the movie because my friend pointed out that it was about three hours long. It would be too late to eat dinner afterwards.

When we use this expression directly to someone, we often say “I hate to point this out, but…” because we’re going to say something negative and it’s softer to say it in this way.

The phrasal verb for today is an easy one, and it’s also very commonly used in English. It is “talk into”. We use it when we want to talk about persuading someone to do something that they previously did not want to do. For example:

At first, Gary didn’t want to come to the party, but Jim managed to talk him into it.

Gary was talked into coming to the party by Jim. (passive voice)

A: Karen says she doesn’t want to help us with this project.

B: Let me speak to her. I think I can talk her into helping us.

I tried to convince my husband to go to Paris for our vacation, but he wouldn’t listen. I’ve never been able to talk him into anything. He’s so stubborn!

Ben is such a persuasive person. He can talk anybody into anything!

This expression can only be used about situations where someone is talking to another person face to face or on the telephone. If someone who is on the radio or on TV persuades a person to do something, we don’t use this idiom to describe that situation. Instead, we would use the verbs “persuade” or “convince”.