English lessons and practice games are intended for people aged 13 and over.
Enable JavaScript to listen, practice and save progress. The lesson content can still be read below.
Lesson 101 / Making & improving
5 phrases · 12 minutes · Look, listen and try.
Notice faults, strengthen a model and improve its display.
Match words to pictures →Play What is She/He doing? →
A randomly assigned, fixed male or female synthetic voice for each phrase or sentence · Slow playback at 0.7× preserves pitch.
The desk lamp is acting up again.
The desk lamp is acting up again.
My printer acted up during the lesson.
My printer acted up during the lesson.
An informal way to describe a device working badly. It need not be completely broken. With children, the phrase can also mean misbehave.
We propped up the model roof with a wooden stick.
We propped up the model roof with a wooden stick.
Can you prop the sign up against the wall?
Can you prop the sign up against the wall?
Use a support to stop something falling or sagging. Put a pronoun in the middle: “prop it up”. The -ing form is “propping”.
Cambridge Dictionary · prop up
We added extra braces to beef up the bridge.
We added extra braces to beef up the bridge.
The club beefed up its safety rules.
The club beefed up its safety rules.
An informal way to say strengthen something by adding to it. Here it has nothing to do with beef as food.
Cambridge Dictionary · beef up
Fresh paint will spruce up our model.
Fresh paint will spruce up our model.
We spruced the reading corner up with flowers.
We spruced the reading corner up with flowers.
The focus is on a neater, fresher appearance. The function or strength need not change.
The box functions as a display stand.
The box functions as a display stand.
This room functions as a classroom in the morning.
This room functions as a classroom in the morning.
Put the role or purpose after “as”. Similar to “act as”; no physical movement or running machine is required.
The examples were written for this course. Usage was checked against Matt Errey’s book, pages 6, 99, 11, 120, 47. A2–B1 is the course’s intended level.
One step forward every day
Your browser could not save your play history. Results from this session may be lost when you close the page.
Sentences using suggestions are counted as needing more practice. Review schedule based on each phrase's meaning.
OBSERVE · UNDERSTAND · MATCH
Drag a wire from the dot beside a phrase to the dot beside its matching picture. You can also tap a phrase, then a picture. Drag again to change a pair before checking.
Read the picture descriptions for more context. Similar expressions are accepted when they fit the particular scene.
Duy watches a desk lamp flicker; two small time insets show it alternately lit and dark.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
Duy props up a sagging cardboard roof with a diagonal wooden support.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
Duy adds crossed braces to strengthen a model bridge.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
Duy adds fresh paint and a small flag to spruce up his model.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
A sturdy box functions as a display stand for Duy’s model.
The picture could not load. Try loading it again before matching.
Choose a phrase to begin.
Your browser could not save your play history. Results from this session may be lost when you close the page.
Read the conversation and find the expressions you have learned.
We need to prop up this side of the model.
We need to prop up this side of the model.
Then we should beef up the frame before displaying it.
Then we should beef up the frame before displaying it.
A little paint will spruce it up afterwards.
A little paint will spruce it up afterwards.
“Prop up” supports something so it does not fall or weaken; “beef up” strengthens it. Temporary support differs from improving the structure itself.
Try answering before revealing the suggested answer. This practice is not scored.
The answers below are models. Other answers can also work if they preserve the facts, meaning and structure requested in the task.
A display tilts during an exhibition. A temporary support can hold it, but the frame also needs strengthening.
Describe the temporary support action.
We can prop up the display for now.
“Prop up… for now” temporarily supports the tilting display without replacing the need to strengthen its frame.
Replace “the frame” with “it”: Beef up the frame.
Beef it up.
“It” replaces the frame being strengthened, so use “beef it up”; this meaning is unrelated to beef as food.
Explain why decoration should wait.
Prop up the display and strengthen it before you spruce it up.
Supporting and strengthening it before “spruce it up” puts stability ahead of decoration.
The usage comparisons are checked against the Cambridge Dictionary entries linked beside the compared expressions. The additional conversations and exercises are written for this course.
Progress is saved on the device. Sign in with Google to save with the same account and continue on another device.