Phrasal verbs

Question

Hello. The following verbs are non separable when they take an object, but what happens when they have a personal pronoun., is it possible to put this pronoun between the verb and the particle?

Call on (ask to recite in class)
The teacher call on the students in the back row.
The teacher call them on in the back row.

Get over (recover from sickness)
I got over the flu.
I got it over.

Go over (review)
The students went over the material before the exam.
The students went it over before the exam.

Run across (find by chance)
I ran across my old roomate at the college reunion.
I ran him across at the college reunion.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

The answers for the four examples are: no, no, no, and no!

All the examples you chose are of the same type - they don't allow the construction illustrated in the third line of each group.

Paco2004 · Answer

CJ

Do you have any rule of thumb to know which phrasal verb is separable and which one is inseparable?

paco

CalifJim · Answer

Sorry, no, I don't. My intuition tells me there may be a connection between separability and the second element (up, over, across, etc.). It also tells me there might not be an exceptionless rule on this or we all would have heard of it already!

I'm going to think about this and add more later if I come up with anything.

Paco2004 · Answer

Hi CJ
Thank you for the quick response.

My intuition tells me there may be a connection between separability and the second element (up, over, across, etc.).

I think you are on the right way.

My rule of thumb is;
when the particle is used in a sense of an adverb, the two word verb is mostly separable.
when the particle is used in a sense of a preposition, the two word verb is mostly inseparable.

paco

CalifJim · Answer

Yes, what you have given as your rule of thumb is quite clearly part of it, as well as the fact that with phrasal verbs used intransitively the problem never occurs - of course.

Yet, I wish we could come up with a little more. For example, I think that some of these particles are much more likely to be used as adverbs than as prepositions. Others work more often in the opposite way. "together", for example, is always adverbial, and thus separable: "put it together".
Possibly "apart" and "away" and "back" also have this property, but I have not done the research to find out. On the other hand, it seems to me that "into", "to", "from", "for", "with", and "without" do not normally occur preceded by an object pronoun: "to do without something", "*to do it without".

And then I suspect that cases of a phrasal verb followed by "with" (and there are many) are always inseparable ("to come up with an answer", "*to come it up with", "*to come up it with", but again, I have not done the research. Would you like to volunteer?

Paco2004 · Answer

I'll try, but I'm afraid it will take a lot of time to find exceptions.

paco

CalifJim · Answer

This can be something you do in your spare time over the next six months, right?

Klavier · Answer

Hi CJ. So, to make this completely clear (for me), I have to put the pronoun after the particle, I mean, is it natural to use a personal pronoun in these constructions?

The teacher call on them in the back row.
I got over it.
The students went over it before the exam.
I ran across him at the college reunion.

CalifJim · Answer

Yes. Now your examples show the correct use of inseparable phrasal verbs.

Just one more thing - not related to phrasal verbs: The teacher calls on them. "them" replaces "the students in the back row".

Calif Jim

Phrasal verbs

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