After an initial contact or event, you may take another action to make progress.

The idea

In neutral everyday and professional English, follow up can stand alone; use with for a person and on for an issue. A direct noun object can come before or after up: follow the lead up or follow up the lead. A pronoun goes before up: follow it up.

Examples

  • I’ll follow up with the supplier tomorrow.
  • The doctor followed up on the test results.
  • We followed the complaint up with a phone call.
  • Mina sent an email and followed it up with a visit.
  • After the meeting, our team will follow up on your proposal.
  • The reporter followed up the lead and found a witness.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic English voice on your device. Quality and availability vary; it does not assess pronunciation.

Watch out

Do not say follow up it. Also, follow up with a call can name the next action, rather than the person contacted.

Try it yourself

  1. Choose the correct option. I’ll follow ___ with the client next week. (up / out)

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    up

    up completes the verb for contacting the client again.

  2. Choose the correct option. Please follow up ___ the application tomorrow. (on / at)

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    on

    on introduces the application being pursued.

  3. Choose the correct option. They sent an invitation and followed ___ up with a reminder. (it / they)

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    it

    it refers to the invitation and goes before the particle.

Use it today

Describe how you would follow up after a meeting.