The position of this phrasal verb, when you say "make out"

Question

when you're trying to understand or hear something with difficulty, you make out what he's saying. In a book, the object has to be put at the end, but in a dictionary online, the object can be used between 'make' and 'out'. I think natives don't care because these both make sense in spoken English and text books always say in an accurate way?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

domdomIn a book, the object has to be put at the end, but in a dictionary online, the object can be used between 'make' and 'out'.

Can you provide the examples of this?

"make out" in the meaning of "understand" is only separated by a pronoun.

We were told that there were mountains in the distance, but it was very foggy that day, so we weren't able to make them out.

It would be unusual to say "we weren't able to make the mountains out". We usually say "we weren't able to make out the mountains" if we say "the mountains" instead of "them".

There are many other usages of "make" with "out" where the two words might be separated, however, so it would be better if you provided the example(s) you're referring to.

CJ

The position of this phrasal verb, when you say "make out"

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