The ESL HELP! Desk

We are continuing our lesson on phrasal verbs.  Today's lesson deals specifically with separable phrasal verbs.  As with all our ESL Help! Desk units, the sentences you see below are contributed by other ESL students in college-level ESL classes. What's wrong with this sentence?

Problem:   The firemen put out it.

Before you begin the activities, you may want to study the podcast and grammar lesson,
He's Always Talking about Grammar, also in our Library. (This lesson is is open to members only
but membership is free!)

   To review the previous lesson, Prepositions and Inseparable (Transitive) Verbs, click here.

Transitive Phrasal Verbs

 

Transitive phrasal verbs take an object.  In some cases, the [verb + preposition] combination must remain together as a unit, and in other cases the noun object may come between them and "separate" them.

Let's see when they must remain together as a unit and when they can be separated.

	Transitive Phrasal Verbs
	When a noun is the object of the verb, the preposition can go:
	a) ...directly after the verb	b) ...directly after the noun (object)
put out	The firemen put out the fire.	The firemen put the fire out.
blow out	I used to like to blow out the burning newspapers.	I used to like to blow the burning newspapers out.
wake up	I tried to wake up the two men.	I tried to wake the two men up.
	When a pronoun is the object of the verb, the preposition must go:
		...between the verb and the preposition:
		The firemen put it out.
		I used to like to blow them out.
		I tried to wake them up.

There are many transitive phrasal verbs that consist of more than one preposition. Here are a few examples:

• (to) catch up to ( )

• (to) look down on ( )

• (to) stock up on ( )

• (to) look up to ( )

Can you think of any others? Use your writing skills to create a complete sentence for each of the four phrasal verbs above.

Next.... believe in, believe (that), think about, think (that)

 

In our next lesson, we discuss - Commonly Confused: believe in, believe (that) and think about, think (that)

So thanks for dropping by this week, and remember to send us your questions about English grammar by way of our blog.

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