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Today’s phrasal verb is “fix up” and it has four different meanings.

1. to provide something for someone. For example:

A: I really need to borrow something to wear for my date. I have nothing to wear.

B: Don’t worry. I’ll fix you up.

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

I didn’t have a date for the party, so my friend fixed me up with his sister.

I was fixed up by my friend with his sister. (passive voice)

3. to renovate something (usually a house). For example:

I bought an old house, and it’s not in very good condition, so I have to fix it up.

This house will have to be fixed up. (passive voice)

4. to decorate a place. For example:

You should see Sally’s new apartment. She’s fixed it up really nicely.

The apartment was fixed up really nicely by Sally. (passive voice)

The phrasal verb “set up” has the same meaning as the second definition of  “fix up” so you can also say, “My friend set me up with his sister”.

There’s an interesting word we use to describe an old house that needs to be renovated (definition 3): We call it a “fixer-upper”. For example:

I bought a house really cheaply, but it’s a real fixer-upper. It’s going to cost me quite a bit of money to renovate it.

Today, I have another phrasal verb for you: “beat up”. It has two meanings:

1. to hit someone many times and cause them physical injury. For example:

On the news tonight, they showed a video of some guys beating up another man. It was horrible.

I’m so angry right now! Some teenagers beat up my friend and stole his wallet last night!

I’m worried about my son. Some kids at school beat him up yesterday.

My son was beaten up by some kids at school yesterday. (passive voice)

2. for someone to blame themselves for something (used with reflexive pronouns). For example:

My new co-worker is very upset right now because he made a mistake, but it happened on his first day of work so he shouldn’t beat himself up about it.

Peter’s death wasn’t your fault! You have to stop beating yourself up about it!

The first meaning of this phrasal verb is used in very extreme circumstances. If someone is hit only once or twice, then we can’t use it. We only use it when a person is seriously hurt because of being hit MANY times. I hope nobody needs to use this expression when it comes to their own lives. However, it could be useful when talking about a movie or TV show. We often see people being beaten up in movies or on TV.

Today’s phrasal verb is “nail down”,  and it means to set a fixed time or a fixed plan. For example:

I’d like to nail down where we will go for our honeymoon because I have to make the reservations soon.

The place where we’re going on our honeymoon has finally been nailed down. (passive voice)

When I nail down the dates for my vacation, I’ll let you know.

Have we nailed down a place to have the office party yet?

A: First, you said we’d have the meeting at 9:00, and then you said it would be at 10:00! Can we please nail it down?

B: Ok, it will be at 10:00 for sure.

This phrasal verb is often used in business situations, but it can also be used when talking about making arrangements in your free time. The important thing to know is that BEFORE we nail something down, there are some options to choose from, but we haven’t chosen which one we want yet. AFTER we have chosen the one we want, we use “nail down” to express that the decision has been made.

Today, I have another phrasal verb for you: “pull off”. This means for a person to succeed at something even though there were problems or doubts that the person could do it. For example:

I didn’t think you’d be able to get this contract, but you really pulled it off. Congratulations!

I can’t believe Francine was able to organize the party so quickly. How did she pull it off?

Edward is a good actor, but he really didn’t pull off this role. It was too difficult a part.

You want us to redecorate the entire house in four days?! That’s impossible! Nobody would be able to pull that off!

This phrasal verb is usually used with very ambitious projects. So the contract in the first example would be considered to be a very difficult one to get and the party in the second example would be a very big one that  required a lot of organization. If the situation is not considered challenging, we don’t use this phrasal verb.

Today’s expression “crack up” is a separable phrasal verb which is used to talk about something or someone which makes a person laugh. For example:

Peter told such a funny joke this morning. It really cracked me up.

Nancy is one of the funniest people I know. She can always crack me up.

We can also use “crack up” as an intransitive phrasal verb. For example:

I cracked up during my class because my friend was making funny faces at me.

My friend often cracks up when he gets nervous. I hope he doesn’t do that for his presentation today.

So, as you can see, we use “crack up” as a separable phrasal verb when we focus on another person making us laugh, but when we focus on the person who laughs, we use it as an intransitive phrasal verb.

Today, I have two phrasal verbs which are the opposite of each other – “mark up” means to increase the price of something, and “mark down” means to decrease the price of something. For example:

I haven’t shopped in that store since they marked up their prices.

The prices in that store have been marked up, so I don’t shop there anymore. (passive voice)

The airlines always mark up their prices during holidays.

The price of this computer wasn’t so high last month. Why did you mark it up?

We’ll have to mark down our prices if we want to stay competitive.

Our prices will have to be marked down if we want to stay competitive. (passive voice)

The price of this lamp is a little high. Could you mark it down for me?

I really like that store, but it’s so expensive. I wish they would mark down their prices.

As you can see, we usually use these phrasal verbs with the word “price”. These phrasal verbs are often used in business situations.

Today’s phrasal verb is “own up to” and it is inseparable. This phrasal verb means for someone to admit to a bad thing they have done. The bad thing could have been done on purpose, or it could have been an accident; it doesn’t matter. For example:

I know my brother stole money from my wallet, but I’m sure he’ll never own up to it.

Someone broke the photocopier at the office. We didn’t know who did it, but finally Rex owned up to it and apologized.

I know it was you who stole my idea and gave it to the boss! Why don’t you just own up to it?

As you can see, we usually use this phrasal verb by explaining the bad situation first, and then talking about the person who admits to causing it.

Today, I’d like to write about the expression: cough up. This has two meanings in English:

1. to produce something by coughing (often blood). For example:

My friend was so sick yesterday that he was coughing up blood.

2. to give something to someone. In this case, it is usually used in the imperative tense. This expression is a little bit slang. Also, if we say this to another person, it’s a little strong. For example:

I want the money you owe me now, so cough it up!

You owe Nancy $100. If you don’t cough it up soon, she’s going to be really angry.

Today,  I have another phrasal verb for you: chase down. This means to go and find a thing or person for someone else. This is often used in office situations. For example:

I can’t find Bruce anywhere, and I need to talk to him. Could you chase him down for me?

A: We need another copy of the report.

B: Ok, I’ll chase one down for you.

With this phrasal verb, the person who does the “chasing down”  is of lower status. So, a person of high status can ask a person of lower status to chase something or someone down for them, but a person of lower status can never ask that of a more important person. So please don’t ask your boss to chase anything or anyone down for you; he or she will not be happy with you!

Here’s a good expression for everyone out there who likes to drink a lot: black out. This is used when someone loses part of their memory because of drinking too much alcohol or because of some kind of shock. The memory loss can be quite short (a few minutes) or much longer (all day or night). For example:

I don’t know how I got home last night. I was drinking at the bar, and I blacked out. My friend must have brought me home.

I can’t remember what happened at the end of the party. I was drinking vodka, and I completely blacked out.

A: What did Frank do after he heard about his wife’s death?

B: He says he can’t remember. He must have blacked out from the shock.

So this is a nice short entry for today as we head into the weekend. I hope nobody blacks out from drinking too much on Saturday night. 🙂