Which sentence is correct?

Question

Leave the door open.Leave open the door.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

#2 is not wrong, but by far the normal word order is #1.

Clive

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousLeave the door open.

I recommend this one (above).

Leave - verb
the door - direct object of the verb

It is extremely rare in English to have any words between the verb and its object. For this reason, the following all sound wrong to an English speaker. (The offending intervening words are underlined.)

Mary threw very far the ball.
Peter tossed over the fence the ball.
Matthew married later Elizabeth.
The cook prepared with great expertise the meal.
We met last week the new boss.
____________________

One exception is the use of a phrasal verb. These are OK.

We threw out the trash.
Thomas turned off the radio.
Franny put away her toys.
_____________________

The combination "leave open" is perhaps a borderline case. It's not a phrasal verb, but it has some of the characteristics of a phrasal verb. So "leave open the door" does not sound really awful, but it would be rare for anyone to make it his first choice.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJim One exception is the use of a phrasal verb. These are OK. We threw out the trash. Thomas turned off the radio. Franny put away her toys. CJ

Does it mean that the constructs:

We threw the trash out.
Thomas turned the radio off.
Franny put her toys away.

are incorrect or sound alien?

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousDoes it mean that the constructs:

We threw the trash out.
Thomas turned the radio off.
Franny put her toys away.

are incorrect or sound alien?

No. Those are correct alternate forms that DO obey the rule: No words between verb and object.

CJ

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