Make up

Phrasal Verbs | B1

Listening exercises with “Make up”

The phrasal verb to make something up means to invent or create a story or an excuse.

You might make something up for harmless reasons, e.g. The children wouldn’t go to sleep until I made up a story for them about a cat and a teapot.

Or you might make something up in order to deceive or trick someone. e.g. Eventually, the man confessed to making the whole story up in an attempt to become famous.

Have a go at these micro-dictation exercises to hear this expression being used in context – how much can you understand?

Accent: North America