live up to: meaning and explanation
to live up to something is a useful phrasal verb to talk about your reaction to something, specifically to say whether it was better or worse than you were expecting or hoping.
There are a few ways you can use this (and similar) expressions, depending on how you feel:
The film didn't live up to my expectations = the film was worse than I was expecting
The film lived up to my expectations = the film was as good as I was expecting
The film exceeded my expectations = the film was better than I was expecting.
You can also use this phrasal verb to ask someone what they thought of something, and how their opinion compared to their expectations. e.g. How was the meal last night? Did it live up to your expectations?
Have a go at these micro-dictation exercises to hear this expression being used in context – how much can you understand?
Listening exercises
Dictation #1
Accent: English (RP)
Dictation #2
Accent: Northern England
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Dictation #3
Accent: North America
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the concert the other day? Did it your ?
About the sentence
...the other day...
The other day is a really useful time expression which you can use when you want to talk about something that happened recently, but it isn't important (or you don't know) when exactly. e.g. Something strange happened to me the other day...
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Hi. The most of parents whose children have learned English for 3 or 4months are disappointed when their children can’t speak very well. Having English lessons didn’t live up to the expectations.
People often have very high expectations (unrealistic expectations) when it coms to learning a language. It takes time and patience, but I guess it’s hard to communicate that sometimes. Do you have to have difficult conversations with parents sometimes?
A couple of corrections: At the start, you should either say: “Most parents whose children have learned English…” or “The majority of parents whose children have learned English…”.
There is also a little mistake near the end. The final part should be: “Having English lessons didn’t live up to their expectations”.
Thanks!
There is a rock in my city that is famous for having a form of a human head. But during some time it’s deformed and now it doesn’t live up to people’s expectation.
Excellent example – tourist attractions often don’t live up to people’s expectations. You’ve made one little mistake in your last sentence – can you see what it is?
I went to a park in the northern part of Mexico which was like a safari ride, but it didn’t live up to my expectations. The weather was too hot in that part of the season, and there was almost no shade to get cover.
Good example and perfect English, well done 🙂 how hot was it?
No…could you tell me please, what mistake I’ve done?)
The last word should be ‘expectations’.
It might be helpful to memorise this phrasal verb as ‘to live up to somebody’s expectations’ because it is such a common combination.
In the place I live, there is a famous event every year in which people enjoy listening to music from famous singers, but also enjoy the food of the different restaurans meeting in that place, but this year it didn’t live up to my expectations.