Five Ways to Look Up

Five Ways to Look Up Five Ways to Look Up Five Ways to Look Up By Maeve Maddox ESL learners have a tough row to hoe when they set themselves to learn English idioms. Note: â€Å"to have a tough row to hoe† = â€Å"to have a difficult task to carry out.† For example, each of the following sentences contains the verb look and the word up, but each conveys a different thought: 1. It’s a surprise! Keep your head down and don’t look up. In this sentence, up functions as an adverb modifying the verb look. In this context, â€Å"to look up,† means, â€Å"to direct one’s gaze upward.† 2. Before you use an unfamiliar word, be sure to look up the meaning. Here, â€Å"to look up† is a phrasal verb with the meaning â€Å"to search for an item of information, or seek information concerning (a person or thing), in a book or database, on the Internet, etc.† 3. Many youngsters look up to professional athletes. In this context, â€Å"to look up to† is a phrasal verb meaning, â€Å"to have a great deal of respect for, to admire, venerate.† 4. While I’m in Chicago, I intend to look up my old college roommate. This colloquial use of â€Å"to look up† means â€Å"to visit or contact a person, especially for the first time or after loss of contact. 5. My financial planner assures me that the economy is about to look up. This idiom is most commonly used in the progressive tense: â€Å"Things are looking up.† The meaning is â€Å"improving, getting better.† From the verb â€Å"look up† (to seek information) comes the noun lookup, a computer term meaning â€Å"the action or process of looking something up in a database.† Lookup is also used as a qualifier: I often  use the Passage Lookup to compare English translations from the NIV, ESV, NASB, and NKJV.   The  lookup feature  allows you to quickly search your contact manager or PIM (personal information manager) for phone numbers to dial. On my iPad, the  lookup feature  isnt working right for certain entries. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Grammar Test 1Is There a Reason â€Å"the Reason Why† Is Considered Wrong?Shore It Up