Guide 140 / 200 4 swaps Formal register
Professional words for “pick up”
Four verbs for what "pick up" is doing in your sentence.
i · When it mattersTwo lines, no filler
"Pick up" is slangy and ambiguous. Name the action: "acquire" (thing), "adopt" (practice), "gather" (information), "grasp" (skill or concept).
ii · The swaps4 ways
- 01Acquire neutral
come to possess
Acquire the smaller competitor in Q3.
- 02Adopt neutral
take on a practice
Adopt the new coding standard gradually.
- 03Gather neutral
collect information
Gather feedback from the first cohort.
- 04Grasp neutral
come to understand a skill or concept
Grasp the underlying data model.