Strike up covers three related but distinct beginnings -- a conversation, a relationship, and a partnership -- and it stays correct whether the beginning was accidental or planned, light or serious. These ten sentences move across that range.
A single conversation
"I struck up a conversation with the operations lead while we were waiting for the session to start."
"She strikes up conversations easily -- by the end of any conference, she knows half the room."
A relationship or friendship beginning
"He struck up a friendship with a colleague from a different office during the onboarding week."
"We struck up a mentoring relationship after she asked a sharp question during my talk."
Both sentences describe the origin of the bond, not how long it has lasted -- a distinct risk from a sentence like "we have struck up the relationship for five years," which wrongly treats the word as describing maintenance rather than a beginning.
A partnership or collaboration beginning organically
"The two teams struck up a working relationship after a chance conversation at the all-hands offsite."
Want to learn "Strike Up" in depth?
Lyra Practice teaches advanced non-native professionals the nuance of high-value expressions like this one, then has you practice using them in realistic work scenarios.
Start learning for free →"The vendor relationship started small -- we struck up a partnership after a conversation at a trade show, long before either side signed anything."
Deliberate, not accidental
"The new manager makes a point of striking up conversations with every new hire in their first week."
The habit is intentional, but the openings themselves are still social rather than procedural -- that's what keeps strike up correct here.
A serious topic, not a light one
"I struck up a conversation about the layoffs with a teammate who'd been quiet all week -- it felt important to check in directly."
The passive form, used sparingly
"A conversation was struck up between the two department heads before either side had a formal reason to talk."
What it isn't: a formal beginning
"We negotiated the vendor contract over six months" -- not "we struck up the vendor contract," since a formally negotiated agreement is a procedural start, the exact target
strike upis built to exclude.
Practice scenarios
Practice using strike up in situations like:
- describing a conversation that began at a conference, on a flight, or during onboarding
- narrating the organic beginning of a partnership before it was formalized
- correcting a sentence that uses the irregular past tense wrong
Useful practice phrases:
- "I struck up a conversation with [someone] while [context]."
- "We struck up a [relationship/partnership] after [how it began]."
- "Not 'we striked up' -- the correct past tense is 'struck up.'"
Ten sentences, one consistent shape: a social opening, not a formal start. Whether it happened by chance or by habit, and whether the topic was easy or difficult, doesn't change which word fits.
What does change the word is the target -- a conversation, a friendship, a partnership are all fair game; a contract or a lawsuit never is.
Lyra Practice helps advanced non-native English professionals learn the nuance of high-value workplace expressions and practice using them in realistic scenarios, so their English sounds natural, precise, and senior at work. Try Lyra Practice.