Before giving his speech

[Bassim]

I am wondering if my sentences are grammatically correct.

Before giving his speech, the president worked the crowd with some jokes. That made people ecstatic. They applauded, laughed and cheered as if they were on a rock concert.

 

[emsr2d2]

"to work a crowd" is OK in BrE. It means, to a certain extent, to manipulate them. Someone who can work a crowd is able to take a situation involving a crowd and either turn it to their advantage or, at the very least, entertain/please the crowd in some way.

 

[Bassim]

I am wondering if "up" is compulsory in my sentence. Longman Dictionary has this example, without "up": "She really knew how to work a crowd. "

 

[Bassim]

emsr2d2,

I was writing my question while you were posting your answer. This was like telepathy.

 

[emsr2d2]

emsr2d2,

I was writing my question while you were posting your answer. This was like telepathy.

I knew you were going to say that! ;-)