Ups and downs
The words up and down often indicate direction, usually following a verb of movement like go or come – the temperature goes up or down , and p rices usually go up . But up and down are used with many other verbs – you can look up or look down , for example. You can walk up a street , run up the stairs , or drive down a hill . And they say that Santa Claus climbs down chimneys on Christmas Eve. English often uses a verb expressing how somebody moves ( walk, run, drive ), and a word like up or down to show direction. A similar meaning is found in phrasal verbs like get up , stand up , sit down and lie down . Sometimes, the verb takes an object. You may put a poster up on the wall, or you may take it down . When getting dressed, you pull your socks up . If you can't hear the radio properly, you turn it up . If you want to write you can pick up a pencil, and when you finish you put it down .