bring up a child

Meaning

This phrasal verb means to care for a child, teaching them how to behave and helping them grow into an adult. It is synonymous with 'raise,' but 'bring up' is particularly common in British English, though widely understood everywhere. It covers everything from moral education to daily caretaking.

Examples

• It is not easy to bring up a child in a busy metropolitan city.

  It is not easy to bring up a child in a busy metropolitan city.

• They wanted to bring up their children to respect nature and the environment.

  They wanted to bring up their children to respect nature and the environment.

• She was brought up by her grandparents in a small countryside town.

  She was brought up by her grandparents in a small countryside town.

• My parents did their best to bring us up with strong values.

  My parents did their best to bring us up with strong values.

• Bringing up a child requires an immense amount of patience and love.

  Bringing up a child requires an immense amount of patience and love.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ They grew up their children very well.

  ✓ They brought up their children very well.

  'Grow up' is intransitive (children grow up). To actively raise them, you must use the transitive phrasal verb 'bring up' or 'raise'.

• ✗ She brought her child up to be a polite.

  ✓ She brought her child up to be polite.

  'Polite' is an adjective, so it does not need the indefinite article 'a' unless followed by a noun like 'person'.

Related Expressions

Practice

• It takes a village to ___ these days.

  💡 Use the base form of the phrasal verb starting with 'bring'.

  Show answer

  bring up a child

• She was ___ in a bilingual household, so she speaks both languages fluently.

  💡 Use the past participle form of the phrasal verb.

  Show answer

  brought up