Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

θ	thin	ð	this	ʃ	she	ʒ	measure
tʃ	church	dʒ	judge	ŋ	sing	j	yes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

-s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
-ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
-ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

screw up

verb

Forms screws up screwing up screwed up

verb (transitive) To tighten or secure with screws.
verb (transitive) To raise by turning a rotary handle.
verb (transitive) To raise (rent, fees, etc.) to extortionate levels.
verb (transitive) To raise or summon up. “trying to screw up enough courage to ask her out”
verb (transitive) To twist into a contorted state. “The baby screwed up his face and began to bawl.”
verb (transitive, dated) To squint.
verb (transitive, colloquial) To make a mess of; to ruin.
verb (intransitive, colloquial) To blunder; to make a mistake.

Synonyms

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “screw up”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details