English as 2nd Language

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Phrasal Verb Vocabulary - Increasing and Decreasing with "Up" and "Down"

Here is a list of some of the most common phrasal verbs concerning increasing and decreasing using the prepositions UP and DOWN. Each phrasal verb includes an explanation and example sentence.


*Category*	*Preposition*	*Phrasal Verb*	*Explanation Notes*	*Example Sentence*
Increasing	up	to put up	to increase prices	They put up the price on that model by five dollars.
Increasing	up	to bring up	to raise children	They brought their children up in the countryside.
Increasing	up	to blow up	to make something more important than it really is	They blew that issue up until it became noticed by the media.
Increasing	up	to go up	used for increases in prices, profits and production	Production went up at the plant by 15 percent.
Increasing	up	to grow up	children getting older	My daughter has grown up so quickly!
Increasing	up	to speed up	used for machines increasing velocity	The car sped up and passed the slow driver.
Increasing	up	to hurry up	to increase the speed of doing something when someone feels late	We're going to have to hurry up if we want to finish this project on time.
Increasing	up	to heat up	with temperatures	It's really heated up these past few days.
Increasing	up	to cheer up	to become happier	He cheered up at the news of a raise.
Increasing	up	to liven up	to make more exciting	The party livened up when he arrived.
Increasing	up	to turn up	used with volume	Can you turn the sound up?
Increasing	up	to speak up	to increase speaking volume	You'll have to speak up if you want him to pay attention to you.
Increasing	up	to build up	improve health	He built his strength up over a number of months.
Increasing	up	to pick up	used when a general situation improves	The local economy has really picked up since the new factory was built.
Decreasing	down	to go down	for prices, profits and production	The quarterly profits went down from the second to the third quarter.
Decreasing	down	to come down	for prices, profits and production	Computer prices have really come down recently.
Decreasing	down	to slow down	used for machines and people	He slowed down as he approached the city limits.
Decreasing	down	to calm down	used when calming other people	She did her best to calm her child down.
Decreasing	down	to turn down	used with volume	Turn down that horrible music!
Decreasing	down	to keep down	decrease volume	Please keep the noise down in this room!
Decreasing	down	to quieten down	decrease volume	He asked the students to quieten down.
Decreasing	down	to cool down	with temperatures	It's really cooled down these past few days.