student asking question

Is "be up to" an expression? What does it mean?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"Up to" in this context is an expression that means "doing". Here, "up to" has a negative connotation because the speaker is suspicious about that the person he is talking to is doing. "Up to" can have a negative connotation, like it does here, or a neutral connotation, depending on the context it is used in. Ex: What have you been up to this weekend? (This sentence means "What did you do this weekend?" and has a neutral connotation) Ex: Are you up to something? (This sentence means "Are you doing something suspicious?" and has a negative connotation)

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