James Baquet

    Becky is chatting with her classmate Lily in the common room of their dorm.

    Becky: Hi, Lily. What’s up?

    Lily: I’m supposed to write something using “phrasal verbs,” but I don’t even know what they are!

    Becky: Sure you do! Another name for them is “two-part verbs.”

    Lily: Really? Like “clean up?”

    Becky: Right.

    Lily: Okay, but what’s the difference between “I cleaned the room” and “I cleaned up the room?”

    Becky: Well, “clean up” simply intensifies the meaning of “clean.” To “clean up” means to finish cleaning, or clean completely. But in some phrasal verbs, the meaning of the original verb changes when the second word — often a preposition on its own — is added.

    Lily: Can you give me an example?

    Becky: Sure. If you say, “I ran into an old friend last week,” it means you met her by chance. The meaning of “run” is completely changed here.

    Lily: So if I say, “I ran into a building last week,” it’s the simple verb “ran” with the preposition “into.”

    Becky: Right! You could change it to “I ran to a building,” “I ran past a building” — and “ran” still has its original meaning.

    Lily: Got it. So the verb changes meaning when used in a phrasal verb.

    Becky: Sometimes, but not always. Also, do you know about transitive and intransitive verbs?

    Lily: Sure. Transitive verbs, sometimes abbreviated “v.t.,” take an object. Intransitive verbs, or “v.i.,” don’t.

    Becky: That’s right. So phrasal verbs can also be transitive and intransitive. And with the transitive phrasal verbs, sometimes you can separate the two parts of the verb, and sometimes you can’t.

    Lily: You lost me.

    Becky: Okay, the phrasal verb “ran into” is transitive — you “run into someone” — but the two parts must always be together. You can’t say, “I ran an old friend into.”

    Lily: Yeah, that sounds weird.

    Becky: But other phrasal verbs, like “clean up,” can be separated by their object.

    Lily: “I cleaned the room up” or “I cleaned up the room.”

    Becky: Right. Both are correct.

    Lily: Why can’t intransitive phrasal verbs be separated?

    Becky: Think about it, Lily...

    Lily: Oh, yeah! There’s no object to put into the middle! So all intransitive phrasal verbs are inseparable. But some transitive phrasal verbs are separable, and some are not.

    Becky: Right. One more thing, though: if you use a pronoun in place of the object in a separable transitive phrasal verb, you must always use it between the first and second words.

    Lily: Pardon?

    Becky: You can say, “I cleaned it up,” but...

    Lily: Oh, got it! You can’t say, “I cleaned up it.”

    Becky: Very good!