“Back up” in “she always backs him up”, in text 1, means

Analyse the texts below. Questions 31 to 35 are based on them.

Text 1

Dear Helpful Harriet,

I have a problem with this teacher at school. He is always shouting at me, though I don't disturb more than lots of other pupils in the class. It´s true that I sometimes don´t do my homework, but I know his subject very well, always get high marks on the tests, so there is no point in doing silly homework. He gave me a much lower mark than I deserved at the end of the term. It´s not fair. And it´s no good saying go to the head teacher, she always backs him up. What can I do?

Yours,

Frustrated Student

_{Adapted from UR, P. A Course in Language Teaching: practice and theory. 1996, p. 252}

Text 2

_{Available at: www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2010/01/04/ Access on 24th Mar, 2010.}