Professional English Practice · Phrasal Verbs
6 · UP: increase, emergence, and confrontation
Escalating and raising issues.
ACCESS
Read the scene and notice the moves in bold. One of them, crop up, is never taught in this book. Before you read on, let the particle show you what it means.
A manufacturing plant, after three shifts of missed targets on one line.
Tomas Line three has missed target three shifts running. What is going on?
Marcus A sealing fault came up on Tuesday and we've been patching it since.
Ines I should speak up here. I brought up the seal tolerance in April and nothing moved.
Tomas Then that one is mine. I'll own up to it.
Marcus Two more faults cropped up overnight, same station.
Tomas Right. We step up inspection there today, and if the numbers hold we scale up to the whole line.
ANALYSIS
ONE QUESTION RUNS THIS WHOLE UNIT
Does this rise, or does it arrive?
Unit 5's up reaches an end point. This unit's up only has to rise: higher on a scale, above the line into view, or into the open where somebody has to answer for it. If nothing runs out, you are on this half of the map.
The structure
Unit 5 followed one path out of the hub: go up far enough and you hit a limit, and a limit is a finish. This unit follows the other two, and they branch earlier. You do not have to arrive anywhere. You only have to rise.
Rise on a scale and there is more of you: more volume, more speed, more effort. That is the increase sense. Rise above a surface and you become visible: what was below the line is now in view. That is the emergence sense. Then the third sense follows from the second: raise an issue in a room and you have exposed it, and exposing something exposes you. That is confrontation.
Increase
- Sense
- there is more of it than there was
- How you know
- a scale the thing moves along, with no top in sight
- Use it to
- report growth in volume, speed or effort
Emergence
- Sense
- what was below the line comes into view
- How you know
- nobody moved it; it appeared
- Use it to
- report a thing that surfaced, rather than a thing somebody did
Confrontation
- Sense
- an issue is raised in the open, and raising it exposes you
- How you know
- there is a room, and somebody now has to answer
- Use it to
- name the act of putting a hard thing on the table
Nothing about the particle changed since Unit 5. Only which half of its map this unit works on.
Rising, and arriving
This unit and Unit 5 take the same particle down two different paths, and the fork is the thing worth holding on to, because it is what decides which half you are in.
Wrap up the site arrives: there is an end point and the work reaches it. Scale up the team does not: it rises on a scale with no top. Both are up, and the image is identical: motion away from the ground. What differs is whether the motion stops.
That is also why speak up and own up live here rather than in Unit 5. Nothing is finished when you own up to something. Something that was not visible has become visible.
The test you can run with no book
Ask: does this stop somewhere?
If it does, you are in Unit 5: a task, a supply or a debt reaching its limit. If it does not, the thing simply gets bigger, or comes into view, or gets said out loud, you are here.
Then, inside this unit, ask who moved it. Nobody moved a fault that cropped up. Somebody moved the delay that was brought up. That is the line between emergence and confrontation, and they are the two that get confused.
The mechanical half: increase takes a measure and emergence does not. You can scale up by forty percent. Nothing crops up by forty percent.
Notice what the three senses share. Every one of them raises something: a number, a problem, or yourself. Raising a number is cheap. Raising a problem is harder. Raising yourself, which is what speak up and own up really do, is the expensive one.
ACTIVATION
Work down the page: the form first, then the strangers, then the particle choices, then the words, then say one out loud.
Complete the form
Use the verb in brackets plus up, in the correct form.
Spot and fix the error
Each sentence has one mistake. Rewrite it correctly.
1. We came up with a solution by the end of the day.
2. I want to speak up about my concerns about the timeline.
3. Can you bring it up at the review on Thursday?
4. The same problem came up again last week.
5. She owned up to the error immediately, which helped.
Rewrite with a phrasal verb
Replace the formal verb with a verb plus up that carries the same meaning.
1. The issue first came up in April.
2. Please bring up the staffing gap at the review.
3. We need to speed up the line before the next shift.
4. He owned up to the mistake publicly.
5. Only two suppliers showed up to the audit.
Match the halves
Join each opening to the ending that completes it.
Meet a Stranger
These three are not taught anywhere in this book. Reason from the particle, then reveal the key.
1. “Rumors of a second recall started to bubble up in the supplier forums.”
2. “We'll need to beef up the inspection team before the audit.”
3. “Someone at the back piped up and asked about overtime.”
bubble up: to emerge gradually from below, before anyone official acknowledges it. Emergence sense.
beef up: to strengthen something by adding capacity or resources. Increase sense.
pipe up: to speak suddenly, often from the edge of a group. A lighter version of speak up.
Particle swap
Same verb, three particles, one right answer. Choose the particle the situation needs.
Vocabulary: raising and escalating
Match each expression to its meaning.
Vocabulary in context
Complete each sentence with an expression from G.