Splitting phrasal verbs?

Question

Hi everyone,As most non-native speakers of English, I find phrasal verbs extremely difficult to learn. Specifically, one of the things I find difficult to grasp is when we should split a phrasal verb. Is there a general rule about splitting them? For example, which of the following sentences sounds more natural to you?a) Did you make up this story?b) Did you make this story up?Thank you.

Fivejedjon · Accepted Answer

There are no general rules. You just have to note the dictionary advice and example sentences with each one.

Both your sentences are acceptable.

Cool Breeze · Answer

Anonymous Is there a general rule about splitting them?

Yes. If the object of the verb is very short, usually a pronoun, it cannot be separated from the verb:

Take it off! (Not: Take off it!)
Put them on!

Longer objects can be separated:

Take off your coat!
Take your coat off!

Put on your shoes!
Put your shoes on!

CB

Fivejedjon · Answer

Note, however , examples such as

The manager went into the matter thoroughly.
She can't get over her shyness.

Here the object, however long, can only follow the particle/preposition.

I think of the verbs in the examples above as examples of prepositional verbs in which the underlined word-pairs take on a meaning beyond the literal meanings of the original verb and preposition, though it may be possible to see the meaning as a metaphorical extensions of those literal meanings). They appear in some lists as dictionaries as phrasal verbs.

Here is one way of considering the possible sentence patterns of a verb + particle/adverb/preposition.

Verb + Preposition	Verb + particle
v He *went into* the room. v He *went into* it. v He *went into* it and other things. * He *went* the room *into.* * He *went* it *into.*	v He *put down* the book. * ~~He *put down* it~~. v He *put down* it and his glasses v He *put* the book *down. v He put* it *down*.

Prepositional Verb	Phrasal Verb
v She *got over* her illness. v She *got over* it. v She *got over* it and losing her job. * ~~She got her illness over.~~ * She got it over.	v They *blew up* the house. * ~~They *blew up* it~~. v They *blew up* it and the nearby factory. v They *blew* the house up. v They *blew* it *up.*

With blow up (phrasal verb) we see the dangers of labelling combinations without taking context into consideration. In the table above, it is used transitively (meaning explode), and it is used as a phrasal verb (so * ~~he blew up it~~ is not acceptable). However, we can use blow as a simple intransitive verb and follow it with the preposition up. Think of an organist testing for blockages in a pipe: he pursed his lips, he put them to the end of the pipe and . He blew up the pipe. Here we have a simple verb blew (for which we could substitute other verbs such as called, shouted) and a preposition up (for which we could substitute other prepositions such as down, through). In this sense it is possible to say: he blew up it.

CalifJim · Answer

fivejedjonblow up

Warning: The following is probably not politically correct.

I prefer the example of the dry cleaner's assistant trying to find an item of clothing in storage on the basis of the number on the claim check that a woman has brought in to claim it.

He looks up her dress. / He looks her dress up. / He looks it up. [phrasal verb]

In the other, unintended meaning:

He looks up her dress. / He looks up it. [ordinary verb with prepositional phrase]

There is one version that's ambiguous. Hence, the embarrassment if the assistant takes the claim check and says

It'll just take me a second to look up your dress, ma'am.

CJ

Please feel free to delete this if it seems too extreme for our forum.

CJ

Cool Breeze · Answer

CalifJim too extreme for our forum

Hi Jim,

I didn't know there were extreme traits in your personality.

CalifJim · Answer

Cool BreezeI didn't know ...

Still water runs deep.

CJ

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