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bring about
George's car accident brought about many disturbances in the life of his
family.
About
has two or three meanings. One of these meanings is 'near here' in
space, or 'almost now' in time.
To bring something about means to bring something (new) about (here). It
means to create. If you like philosophy, you might say that you bring
something from the Unknown to here. You bring it about, which means
'make something happen'. Compare this to
come about
which means 'to
happen'.
In the United States, Martin Luther King brought about great changes in
how black and white people saw each other.
Compare this with
After Martin Luther King, great changes in racial politics came about.
Separable two-word verb
Be careful.
bring down
The direction towards the earth is
down
. By extension, it can mean a
depressing or sad mood.
Steve brings me down.
Steve depresses me. He makes me unhappy.
Separable two-word verb
Be careful.
bring off
We frequently use
off
to mean a change of state or position (like
go off
,
set off
, or
take off
). When you bring something off, you bring it away. By
extension, when you bring off a project, you also leave it. Why do you
leave a project? Because you have completed it. Because it is finished.
When you bring off a project, it is a success. Always.
Compare this with
carry off
and
pull off
Also, a project can
come off
.
They all mean the same.
Mary Poppy usually plays romantic comedies, but everyone thought she
brought it off very well as the evil manipulative wife of a psychopathic
killer.
Separable two-word verb
Be careful.
bring out
The Dead Beasts have just brought out a new show.
Throgmorton University Press has brought out a new anthology of
Medieval Finnish poetry.
Soldiers say that being under fire will bring out the best and the worst
qualities in a man.
In the Middle Ages, during the plagues, the town undertakers would go
around the houses shouting, 'Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!'
Now things are a little happier, and bring out means publish (books and so
on), release (records, music, films and software), or reveal (your
character). You bring these things
out
into the world.
Separable two-word verb
. Be careful.
bring round
ROUND in many verbs means 'approximately here' or 'here, but not
urgently' For example, 'go to the pub' is direct, but 'go round to the pub' is
more relaxed.
I'm calling a friend who is coming round to my house this evening. She
asks me, 'Shall I bring round a nice bottle of wine?' I tell her I have plenty
of wine at home.
But there is another way we use this verb.
Poor Herbert is shocked by the violence on the TV and he has fainted.
Mary brings him round with a rag dipped in floor cleaner.
He is conscious now. In a sense, he is here now.
Compare this with
come round
.
Separable two-word verb
Be careful.
bring up
There are two common meanings of BRING UP.
Remember,
up
often has the meaning of 'complete' or 'finished'.
Fill up
means 'fill until full' and
grow up
means 'finish your growing, or become
adult'.
I am grown up, which usually means that my parents brought me up.
Your schools educate you, but your mother and father bring you up.
The other meaning is really easy to imagine.
The sea was very rough, and Ivan brought up his breakfast.
This means that we saw his breakfast a second time.
If you take the boat from France to England you will see and hear this a
lot.
By extension, it is possible to bring
up
a topic of conversation, an idea,
into the discussion. If you can
come up with
a new idea, this has the same
meaning.
Separable two-word verb
Be careful.
brush
(brush, brushed, brushed)
What we do with a brush to clean something. We brush the floor, we
brush our clothes, and we brush our teeth. When we use a brush with
paint, we say that we are painting.
brush off
George's wife, Amethyst, used to get very angry when he lost their
money playing bingo, but he just brushed it off. He was back playing the
next day.
When you brush off a bit of dirt from your clothes, it is a trivial action. It
does not take more than a second or two. Once done, it is forgotten. By
extension, to brush off an incident is to dismiss it as trivial, unimportant.
Separable two-word verb
Careful.
brush up
Quick! Here comes the man or woman of your dreams! You've only got a
few seconds! Brush up your hair, your clothes! Adjust your tie if you're
wearing one. Get more presentable!
This
up
is a higher standard than before. Compare this with
do up
,
make
up
(your face).
Similarly, if we are going to France in the next few days, we might want to
brush up our French. We get out the old phrase-books and we listen to a
few tracks.
Separable two-word verb
Careful.
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