Feifei Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too. I’m Feifei, and I’m here with Phil.
**Phil
**Hello. How are you, Feifei? You look tired.
FeifeiOh, that’s a bit rude! Although, it is true – I have a new neighbour. Every time I try to go to sleep, my neighbour cranks up the volume of his music. It’s driving me crazy.
**Phil
**Oh no! But that does give us a phrasal verb to learn in this programme – ‘crank up’. It can mean ’turn up’, but can you tell us a bit more about it?
FeifeiYes. So, it might actually help if you think about an old machine – a ‘crank’ is a handle that you turn to make something happen. When we use ‘crank up’, we mean to increase the intensity of something – like the volume on my neighbour’s speakers.
**Phil
**And it’s not just volume. It can be the intensity of anything. We often use it metaphorically, so you can talk about cranking up your efforts to do something. So, if I really want to get fit, I need to crank up the level of my workouts.
FeifeiYes, that’s right. Here are some examples of people using ‘crank up’.
ExamplesI’m doing a course at the moment, and my teacher has brought forward the date of the exam, and that’s really cranked up the pressure. I’ve got so much to study in no time at all.
I’ve got a half marathon coming up, so I’ve really got to crank up my training.
I’m going to Poland. I need to crank up my efforts to learn Polish.
FeifeiSo, ‘crank up’ is a phrasal verb. Phil, what else do we need to learn about it?
**Phil
**OK, with phrasal verbs, it’s always important to know where to put the direct object. With ‘crank up’ you can either put it in between ‘crank’ and ‘up’, or you can put it afterwards.
FeifeiSo, when it’s cold, you can crank the heating up, or you can crank up the heating.
**Phil
**Hopefully, this episode will help you crank up your vocabulary learning efforts.
FeifeiYes, and we’ll be back next time with another useful English phrase.
**Phil
**See you then. Bye!