Meaning & use
partnering up
Last updated
“partnering up” is a form of “partner up”.
Meaning
verbintransitiveinformal
Forming a pair or team with someone in order to do something together.
Grammar: Used without an object, often followed by 'with': 'partnering up with a classmate'. The base form is 'partner up'.
Patterns
- partnering up with someone
- partnering up for something
- partnering up to do something
The students are partnering up for the science project.
She is partnering up with a local business to organize the event.
After years of working alone, he is partnering up with an old friend.
Word forms
| base form | partner up |
|---|---|
| third person singular | partners up |
| past tense | partnered up |
| past participle | partnered up |
| -ing form | partnering up |
Common combinations
- partner up with someone
- I partnered up with a colleague to share the driving.
- partner up for a project
- We partnered up for the group presentation.
- partner up to do something
- They partnered up to open a small café.
- partner up in pairs
- The teacher asked us to partner up in pairs.
Synonyms and how they differ
- team up
- Team up is very similar but often suggests a larger group, while partner up usually means two people.
- pair up
- Pair up is almost the same and is common in classroom instructions; partner up is slightly more informal.
- join forces
- Join forces is more formal and often used for organizations or groups working together.
Opposites
Word family
- partner noun
- A person you work or do an activity with.
- partnership noun
- A relationship in which two or more people or groups work together.
Commonly confused: partnering up or partnering?
partnering up vs partnering
Partnering (without 'up') is more formal and means working together in a business or official way; partnering up is informal and usually means forming a pair.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'partnering up' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Partner up' is intransitive and takes 'with' before the other person, so 'partnering up with a classmate' is correct. The other options use the wrong preposition or treat it as transitive.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “partnering up”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.