Call up means to phone someone: I'll call up the restaurant. The second meaning is to order someone to join the army or pick them for the national team: He was called up to the national team. In British speech, for a phone call people more often just say call or ring up.
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call up + person/place; call him/her up; be called up (to + the army/the national team)
- I'll call up the restaurant and ask if they have a table for six.
- He was called up to the national team when he was only nineteen.
- If the shop doesn't reply to your email, just call them up.
What changed
First versionYesterday I called up to my old school friend.
RevisionYesterday I called up my old school friend.
After call up, the person comes straight away, with no to: called up my friend. To may come from the idea of making a call to someone, but call up takes the person directly. If you use a pronoun instead of a name, it goes between the two words: called him up.
Call up and call back are easy to mix up. Call up means to phone first, call back means to return a call from someone who phoned you: She called while I was out, so I called her back.
Your turn
Nobody had phoned me all day, so in the evening I ___ my sister just to chat.
Show the answer
called up — Nobody had phoned, so there's no one to call back: you're making the first call, called up. Called back would only fit if your sister had phoned earlier.
Write about a recent call you made to someone for no particular reason. Say who you called and what you talked about.
Last Sunday I called up my old classmate Igor, and we talked about our school teachers for an hour.
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