end up — finally be in a situation
phrasal verbB1IELTS 5+neutralcore
to reach a place or situation after a series of events, often without planning to.
Say it like a native
Textbook I eventually arrived in a situation of leading my own team.
Native I ended up leading my own team.
'End up' captures an unplanned outcome in two words. 'Eventually arrived in a situation of' is clumsy and unnatural.
Pattern: end up + (verb-ing) / end up + preposition + noun
In use
- We took a wrong turn and ended up at the beach instead of the museum.daily life
- I planned to study engineering, but I ended up choosing psychology because I found it more interesting.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ I ended up to run the meeting.
✓ I ended up running the meeting.
'End up' takes -ing (or a place/adjective), never a to-infinitive.
Common collocations
end up + outcome— doing something, somewhere, in trouble, alone
Don't confuse it
Do not confuse with 'finish', which means to complete something, not to arrive at an unexpected result.