Grow up means to spend your childhood somewhere, or to become an adult and more mature. In the first meaning, people talk about themselves and where they come from: I grew up in Omsk. In the second, they talk about character and behaviour, and an irritated “Grow up!” means “Stop acting like a child”.
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grow up in + place; grow up with + person/thing; grow up to be + noun; Grow up!
- I grew up in a small town, so big-city noise still tires me out.
- My younger brother has really grown up since he started living on his own.
- When my flatmate sulked about doing the dishes, I finally told him to grow up.
What changed
First versionI grew in a small town near Samara.
RevisionI grew up in a small town near Samara.
“Grow” without “up”, used about a person, means to get physically bigger or taller: He grew five centimetres last year. To say where you spent your childhood, you need “grew up”.
“Grow up” is about the person who was becoming an adult. For the people who raised them, use “bring up”: My aunt brought me up after my parents moved abroad. And “grow up with” means to grow up alongside someone or something: I grew up with three older brothers.
Your turn
I ___ with my grandmother because my parents worked in another city.
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grew up — A person grows up on their own; nobody “grows them up”, so “was grown up” doesn't work here: I grew up with my grandmother. If you mean that someone raised you, use “bring up”: I was brought up by my grandmother.
Write about where you grew up. Name the town or city and one place from your childhood that no longer exists.
I grew up in Perm, and the open-air swimming pool where I learned to swim was knocked down years ago.
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