I'm sure (clause)

Say "I'm sure ___" when you're making a guess about something and you're pretty confident in your guess. I'd say the confidence level of someone who says "I'm sure ___" is probably about 70%. You also usually use it to talk about things that you want to happen or hope will happen. Here are some examples:

I'm sure it'll be over by then.

I'm sure she's OK.

I'm sure we can work something out.

it'll

This is a contraction of "it will". People use it in casual spoken English. Don't use it in formal writing unless you're trying to quote someone who was speaking casually.

His landlord reassured him that it was only a temporary inconvenience. "It'll be ready by Monday," he said.

"It'll" is similar to "this'll" and "that'll". All of these contractions are less common and less formal than the usual contractions like "can't" and "isn't".

(something) picks up

The phrase "picks up" means "becomes busier":

I sure hope sales pick up soon, or we're really going to be in trouble.

Things always pick up around the holiday season.

Use "pick back up" to mean "become busy again"

Now that it's picked back up again, I'm starting to consider hiring another person.

You can see some of the common subjects of "pick up" in the examples above:

• it
• sales
• things

Other common subjects of the phrase "pick up" include:

• business
• attendance
• the economy
• the wind