English · Chapter 5 · Lesson 14 · Grammar primer
Phrasal verbs
The verb-plus-particle pairs that native speakers live on - get up, look after, put off - and how to tell the separable ones apart.
The short version
A pronoun always goes in the middle
With a separable phrasal verb, a full noun object can sit in either place, so turn the light off and turn off the light are both correct. A pronoun has no such freedom: it, them, him and her must go between the verb and the particle. There is no flexibility here at all.
Turn it off.
Inseparable verbs never split, not even for pronouns
With an inseparable phrasal verb the particle stays glued to the verb, and the object always follows it, pronoun or not. So work out whether a verb is separable first, then remember that pronouns force the split on separable verbs and never break an inseparable one. A good dictionary marks each verb.
I look after them.
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