Pick on means to keep criticising, teasing or being unkind to someone unfairly, usually someone weaker. It describes a person being targeted again and again, at school, at home or at work.
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pick on + person; pick on + someone + for + noun/-ing; be picked on (at school/at work)
- My older brother used to pick on me, but now we're really close.
- She felt the manager was picking on her because he criticised every report she wrote.
- Children who are picked on at school often don't tell their parents.
What changed
First versionThe older boys kept picking him on at school.
RevisionThe older boys kept picking on him at school.
The mistake comes from the pattern of pick him up, where the pronoun goes in the middle. That doesn't work with pick on: on behaves like a preposition and goes before the person, just like with or for: picking on him.
Tease means to make fun of someone, and it can be friendly: My friends tease me about my accent. Pick on has no friendly side: someone is being targeted unfairly again and again. People say Stop picking on him! when standing up for someone who is being treated this way.
Your turn
The older kids ___ Sam every day: they hid his bag and laughed at his glasses.
Show the answer
picked on — Day after day, the older kids were being unkind to Sam: hiding his bag and laughing at his glasses. That's bullying, so picked on fits. Picked out would mean 'chose' or 'spotted', which has nothing to do with the teasing and the hidden bag.
Think of a situation at school or work when someone was picked on. Write who was doing it and what exactly they did.
In my first job, the shift manager picked on me by giving me the worst tasks and correcting me in front of customers.
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