Page 6 - Conversation 3

(3) Crank up

Introduction

Here's an expression about increasing intensity.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/the-english-we-speak_2024/ep-240826

Transcript

Feifei
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English
speakers so that you can use them too. I'm Feifei, and I'm here with Phil.

Phil
Hello. How are you, Feifei? You look tired.

Feifei
Oh, that's a bit rude! Although, it is true – I have a new neighbour. Every time I try to go to
sleep, my neighbour cranks up the volume of his music. It's driving me crazy.

Phil
Oh no! But that does give us a phrasal verb to learn in this programme – 'crank up'. It can mean
'turn up', but can you tell us a bit more about it?

Feifei
Yes. So, it might actually help if you think about an old machine – a ‘crank’ is a handle that you
turn to make something happen. When we use ‘crank up’, we mean to increase the intensity of
something – like the volume on my neighbour's speakers.

Phil
And it's not just volume. It can be the intensity of anything. We often use it metaphorically, so
you can talk about cranking up your efforts to do something. So, if I really want to get fit, I need
to crank up the level of my workouts.

Feifei
Yes, that's right. Here are some examples of people using 'crank up'.

Examples
I'm doing a course at the moment, and my teacher has brought forward the date of the exam, and
that's really cranked up the pressure. I've got so much to study in no time at all.

I've got a half marathon coming up, so I've really got to crank up my training.

I'm going to Poland. I need to crank up my efforts to learn Polish.