put up to — encourage someone to do something (often wrong)
phrasal verbB2IELTS 6+informaloccasional
to persuade or encourage someone to do something, especially something they probably shouldn’t do
Say it like a native
Textbook Someone evidently incited him to commit the act.
Native Someone must have put him up to it.
'Put up to' is the natural way to say someone egged another on; 'incite to commit' is legalistic.
Pattern: put someone up to something
In use
- Who put you up to playing that prank on your teacher?daily life
- In my opinion, peer pressure can be dangerous because friends might put you up to making bad decisions.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ His mates put him up to do it.
✓ His mates put him up to it. / ...put him up to doing it.
'Put someone up to' + noun or '-ing' (or just 'it') — not a to-infinitive.
Common collocations
put + someone + up to— him up to it, you up to this, up to no good, up to doing it
Don't confuse it
Not the same as 'put up with', which means to tolerate something.