work my courage up vs work up my courage

Both phrases are correct, but 'work up my courage' is the more commonly used and idiomatic expression in English. It is used to convey the idea of building or summoning courage. 'Work my courage up' is less common and may sound a bit awkward to native English speakers.

Last updated: March 25, 2024 • 1329 views

work my courage up

This phrase is correct but less commonly used in English.

This phrase means to build or summon courage. It is grammatically correct but may sound a bit awkward to native English speakers.

Show examples from the web [+]

After you saw the e-mails you started drinking to work up courage to confront your so-called friend.
I've tried to work up the courage a hundred times.
As predicted, he's trying to work up the courage.
The guy who took three weeks to work up the courage to ask you out.
Well, if I can ever work up the courage to ask you again, I'll send written warning first.
He was drinking a lot, you know, to work up the courage.
I had to drink a half a bottle of gin just to work up the courage.
I just wish Leonard would work up the courage to tell Sheldon he's moving in here.
Maybe I'll have two if my mom finally works up the courage to propose to her bowling partner.
I couldn't work up the courage to say three words to Toby.
I can feel you trying to work up the courage to ask me something.
That's to work up the courage to get to phase 2 - taking real steps to achieve said goal.
No, no, he's got to work up the courage first.
So he starts with dogs in his own neighborhood, then when he works up the courage, he hops on the bus and finds his first human victim.
Take you that long to work up the courage?
I followed him, tried to work up the courage to beg him to change my grade.
You won't read this till you get back if I work up courage to send it.
Are you going to tell me why you traveled all this way, or would you like a little Burgundy red wine to work up your courage?
You know you have to do it, but when it comes right down to it, it's hard to work up the courage.
You still can't work up the courage to shoot me, can you?

Alternatives:

summon my courage
gather my courage
build up my courage
muster my courage
find my courage

work up my courage

This phrase is the more commonly used and idiomatic expression in English.

This phrase also means to build or summon courage. It is the preferred and more natural way to express this idea in English.

Show examples from the web [+]

After you saw the e-mails you started drinking to work up courage to confront your so-called friend.
I've tried to work up the courage a hundred times.
As predicted, he's trying to work up the courage.
The guy who took three weeks to work up the courage to ask you out.
Well, if I can ever work up the courage to ask you again, I'll send written warning first.
He was drinking a lot, you know, to work up the courage.
I had to drink a half a bottle of gin just to work up the courage.
I just wish Leonard would work up the courage to tell Sheldon he's moving in here.
Maybe I'll have two if my mom finally works up the courage to propose to her bowling partner.
I couldn't work up the courage to say three words to Toby.
I can feel you trying to work up the courage to ask me something.
You won't read this till you get back if I work up courage to send it.
That's to work up the courage to get to phase 2 - taking real steps to achieve said goal.
No, no, he's got to work up the courage first.
So he starts with dogs in his own neighborhood, then when he works up the courage, he hops on the bus and finds his first human victim.
Take you that long to work up the courage?
I followed him, tried to work up the courage to beg him to change my grade.
Are you going to tell me why you traveled all this way, or would you like a little Burgundy red wine to work up your courage?
You know you have to do it, but when it comes right down to it, it's hard to work up the courage.
You still can't work up the courage to shoot me, can you?

Alternatives:

summon up my courage
gather up my courage
build my courage up
muster up my courage
find my courage

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

work my courage up vs work up my courage