Multiple meanings of the phrasal verb: back up
Welcome to my podcast. I am Mish, and I help English learners
build their vocabulary, boost their confidence speaking and
ultimately reach fluency.
In this series, we are talking about multiple meanings for
words and phrases.
And in today’s episode, we are going to be talking about the
phrasal verb “back up”.
“Back up” has 5 different meanings.
back up
1. to make a copy of a computer file or data file so that the
contents of the file are not lost forever
“Even though you saved your project to the cloud, I’d still
back it up on another drive, so you don’t lose it.”
“Can you back up your computer before we install the new
software?”
“I lost all my photos when my phone died because I hadn't
backed them up.”
2. to support someone by publicly agreeing with that person
“Thanks for backing me up at the meeting. I know a lot of
people agreed with me, but you were the only one who
wasn’t too scared to say how you really feel.”
“Sarah always backs up her sister during arguments with
their parents.”
“When you're feeling down, your support system will back
you up emotionally.”
3. to prove something with facts or support
“I’m willing to listen to your argument if you back it up with
facts and statistics.”
“The detective asked for a witness to back up the victim's
story.”
“I appreciate it when my partner backs me up during
disagreements with friends.”
4. to move or drive backwards
“You’re parked way too close to the car next to you. Back up
and try it again.”
“The traffic jam was caused by a truck that failed to back up
properly.”
“The driver used the rearview camera to guide the car when
backing up in the narrow alley.”
There you have it. The five ways to use the phrasal verb “back
up”. It is important to take note that “backup” can also be used
as a noun, and it also has multiple meanings as a noun, but
we won’t get into that now. Please focus only on the phrasal
verb for now. Remember, yes, English is a complicated
language, but it can also be very exciting when you better
understand vocabulary and phrases and how to use them
correctly.
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free guide to improving your English.
