Phrasal verbs: Gang up on/against

Hey guys. Today I want to talk about phrasal verbs. Unfortunately there's a very known practice by the name of bullying. You must have heard of that term because it's become very popular throughout the world. I'm talking about it because the phrasal verbs we'll be studying today have everything to do with it. They can convey the idea of intimidating others.

If somebody said "they BULLIED him because of the way he spoke", you'd pretty much understand that the verb to bully means to intimidate or harass someone. However, there's a phrasal verb that can replace the term bully, as in "They GANGED UP ON him because of the way he spoke. The verb gang reminds us, brazilians, of what we call "gangue", which according to Dictionary.com refers to a group of youngsters or adolescents who associate closely, often exclusively, for social reasons, especially such a group engaging in delinquent behaviour. So if a group gangs up on someone, they're actually harassing or intimidating him. You could also use the phrasal verb TO GANG UP AGAINST someone to say the same thing, as in "They GANGED UP AGAINST me because I wouldn't accept their ideas".

But when you're part of a group, you're not necessarily a hooligan. Maybe it's a group sharing the same ideals fighting against something or someone. People can share the same line of thought for example to try to stop a system. See this sentence: They GANGED UP to try to stop the new system. As you might have noticed, TO GANG UP can also mean to act together as a group in opposition. People usually GANG UP in order to defend their interests.