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Separable phrasal verbs allow the object between verb and particle; inseparable ones never split the verb from its particle.
Side-by-side comparison
Separable phrasal verbs allow placing the object between the verb and the particle: "turn off the light" or "turn the light off". Both positions are valid.
She put off calling the dentist for weeks but finally made an appointment.
Please write down the vocabulary words and review them before the test.
Make sure you hand in your essay by Friday or it will not be marked.
But when the object is a pronoun, the only option is to place it in the middle: "turn it off". Never "turn off it". This is the rule most people forget.
The police are looking into the theft, but it may take a few days to get results.
Living with noisy flatmates is hard, you just have to put up with it.
Can you go through the presentation one more time? I want to check all the slides.
Common mistake
The two most common errors:
- 1.Separating an inseparable phrasal verb: "look the problem into" is wrong, correct: "look into the problem."
- 2.Placing the pronoun after the particle in a separable verb: "turn off it" / "pick up them" are wrong, with pronouns in separable verbs, always place them between verb and particle: "turn it off" / "pick them up."
Trick to remember it
The pronoun test: place "it," "them," or "him" between the verb and the particle. If it sounds natural = separable (and mandatory with pronouns). If it sounds wrong = inseparable. "Turn it off" = fine = separable. "Look it after" = awful = inseparable.
Quick rule
- •Separable + pronoun = must go between verb and particle ("turn it off," never "turn off it").
- •Inseparable = object always after particle ("look after them," never "look them after").
Did you know?
Phrasal verbs challenge even C1/C2 learners. Interestingly, native English speakers also cannot always EXPLAIN why a phrasal verb is separable or not, they simply know from language exposure. Linguistically, the distinction has roots in the difference between "particle verbs" (where the particle is part of the predicate) and "prepositional verbs" (where the preposition introduces a complement). This underlying syntactic distinction determines separability, but it is invisible to the speaker without linguistic training.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
Please _____ before leaving the house. It's cold outside.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
She tried _____ but it was too small.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
In the active voice the subject acts; in the passive voice the subject receives the action.
Some verbs take a gerund (-ing), others take an infinitive (to + verb), and some take both with different meanings.
In 'look forward to', the 'to' is a preposition, not part of the infinitive, so it is followed by a gerund (-ing).
'A' is used before consonant sounds; 'an' is used before vowel sounds.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy