Go up means to increase (about prices, salaries, temperature or numbers) or to move to a higher place: up the stairs, up a hill, to a top floor. “Go up to someone” also means to walk over to a person: After the lecture, I went up to the speaker with a question.
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prices/costs/numbers + go up (by + amount; to + level); go up + the stairs/hill; go up to + person
- Our rent went up by ten per cent this year, so we're looking for a cheaper flat.
- The lift was broken, so we had to go up six floors on foot.
- The number of students in my evening class has gone up from twelve to twenty.
What changed
First versionTrain fares went up on 15% in January.
RevisionTrain fares went up by 15% in January.
To show the size of a change in numbers, English uses “by”, not “on”: “went up by 15%”. To give the new price or level in full, use “to”: “went up to 3,000 roubles”.
When people talk about prices, “go up” sounds the most natural: Our bills have gone up again. In essays and graph descriptions for IELTS Writing, “rise” or “increase” is more common: The number of tourists rose by 12%.
Your turn
Petrol prices ___ again last month, so I'm cycling to work more often.
Show the answer
went up — The prices rose on their own, and the sentence doesn't say who raised them, so “went up” is right. “Raise” needs an object, the thing that is raised: The company raised its prices. Without one, “prices raised” is a mistake.
Write about something that has become more expensive in your city over the last year. Say what it is and roughly how much the price has risen.
In my city, a monthly bus pass has gone up by about twenty per cent over the past year.
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