Speed sth up Meaning & Examples: How to Use This Phrasal Verb

What Does “Speed sth up” Mean?

“Speed sth up” means to make something happen faster or to increase the speed of a process or action.

Introduction

The phrasal verb speed sth up is commonly used in everyday English to describe the act of making something go faster. Whether it’s a project, a machine, or a process, when you speed something up, you reduce the time it takes to complete. Understanding the speed sth up meaning helps learners use it correctly in various contexts, from work to daily life. This phrase is useful for expressing efficiency and urgency in communication.

Quick Info Box

• Phrasal verb: speed something up
• Type: transitive
• Level: B1 (Intermediate)
• Meaning: to make something happen faster

Structure (Grammar Rules)

“Speed sth up” is a separable phrasal verb. This means you can place the object between “speed” and “up” or after “up.”

• Speed something up
• Speed up something

Examples:

• They need to speed the process up.
• They need to speed up the process.

How to Use Speed sth up?

You use “speed sth up” when talking about making an action or event happen more quickly. It is often used with projects, processes, machines, or events. The object is usually a noun or noun phrase referring to what is being accelerated.

Example objects: process, delivery, production, work, development.

Examples

Imagine a company wants to finish a project earlier than planned. They would try to speed the project up.

• We need to speed up the delivery to meet the deadline.
• The technician sped the machine up to improve efficiency.
• Can you speed the work up so we can finish by Friday?
• The government is trying to speed up the vaccine approval process.
• Speed sth up in a sentence: “They decided to speed the construction up to open the building sooner.”

Common Mistakes

Many learners confuse the word order or forget the object when using “speed sth up.”

• Incorrect: Please speed up.
• Correct: Please speed the process up.
• Incorrect: They speeded up the work.
• Correct: They sped up the work.

Note: The past tense of “speed” is “sped,” not “speeded.”

Differences / Synonyms

Similar phrasal verbs include “hurry up” and “rush.” However, “speed sth up” focuses on making a process or action faster, often in a formal or neutral tone.

• Hurry up: Used mostly for people to act faster.
• Rush: Often implies doing something quickly but sometimes carelessly.
• Speed sth up: Focuses on increasing speed efficiently and effectively.

Common Collocations

You often hear “speed sth up” with words related to work, processes, or technology. Here are common collocations:

• Speed up production: Make manufacturing faster.
• Speed up delivery: Make shipping or sending faster.
• Speed up development: Accelerate the creation or progress.
• Speed up process: Make any procedure faster.
• Speed up growth: Increase the rate of development or expansion.

Real-life Dialogue

Here is a conversation between two colleagues discussing a project deadline:

Anna: The client wants the report earlier than expected.

Ben: We can speed the writing up by dividing the tasks.

Anna: Good idea! Let’s speed the editing up too.

Practice

Try to complete the sentence below using “speed sth up”:

We need to _______ the production _______ to meet the holiday demand.

• a) speed / up
• b) speed up
• c) speed the / up
• d) speed up the

Answer: a) speed / up or d) speed up the

FAQ

• Q: Can “speed up” be used without an object?
  A: Yes, but it means to increase speed generally, not “speed sth up.”
• Q: What is the past tense of “speed up”?
  A: The past tense is “sped up.”
• Q: Is “speed sth up” formal or informal?
  A: It is neutral and can be used in both formal and informal contexts.
• Q: Can I use “speed sth up” for people?
  A: Usually, it’s used for actions or processes, not people directly.
• Q: How do I use “speed sth up” in a sentence?
  A: Place the object between “speed” and “up” or after “up,” for example, “We need to speed the process up.”