Idioms: come up

'Come up' has a few meanings.

a) First, it has a literal meaning. I could come up to your office on the third floor of a building. If I'm swimming, I need to come up to the surface to breathe.

b) Then, it can be another word for 'come', for example:

"Why don't you come up to my house this weekend?"

In this case, 'my house' might not be up a hill; the speaker just means 'come to my house'. 'Come up' can be used in a casual way, and in friendly invitations like this.

c) Then, you can use 'come up' to mean 'will happen soon':

Sorry, I have to stay home. I have exams coming up...

The deadline is coming up next week.

d) Another use of 'come up' is 'happen' - a problem or situation happens. Often it is sudden or unexpected.

Sorry, I have to go home now. Something's come up. (=A problem has suddenly happened, or your situation suddenly changed.)

The reason for this meeting is that a new problem has come up.

Actually, saying 'something's come up' can be a good excuse if you have to change plans. Perhaps you have a work problem, or a family problem, or a cute guy asked you out, or you feel too tired to go out. If you don't want to give any information, you can just say 'something's come up'. Hahaha...

e) As we saw in this post here, 'come up with' means 'think of an idea'.

Okay, so here's a quick quiz for you. Which meaning of 'come up' is used in each sentence? (Choose from: literal meaning, 'come', 'will happen soon', 'happen suddenly', 'think of'.)

1. I need to work on some errors that have come up.
2. I have to come up with a plan.
3. You should come up here some time; you could stay with me.
4. My wife's birthday is coming up on Tuesday.
5. He came up to my room.

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Answers:
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1. 'happen'
2. 'think of'
3. 'come'
4. 'will happen soon'
5. literal meaning (if your room is upstairs) or 'come'