please help me with this!

[karina1]

hi there.

here's my question
"I broke up the lamp to fit into the box."

shouldn't it be "I broke up the lamp to fit it into the box.",
if it's the lamp, not me, that goes into the box?

and another question,
if I say "I broke down the lamp to fit it into the box", are they the same in meaning?

thank you!

[SoothingDave]

hi there.

here's my question
"I broke up the lamp to fit into the box."

shouldn't it be "I broke up the lamp to fit it into the box.",
if it's the lamp, not me, that goes into the box?

and another question,
if I say "I broke down the lamp to fit it into the box", are they the same in meaning?

thank you!

Not a teacher.

Sometimes we forget language is about sentient beings communicating with one another.

It's obvious from context that you broke up the lamp, not yourself.

[karina1]

thanks for your reply, but I think you've missed the point.

what I'd like to know is if it's "to fit it into the box" or "to fit into the box".

thanks again!

[SoothingDave]

No es problema, as I say here in Mexico.

The "it" you ask about doesn't really matter. The sentence means the same thing to this English speaker if "it" is there or not. It's understood to be there even if it isn't.

Your other question is another of those puzzles of English. In this case "broke up" and "broke down" for your lamp, meaning to make it into smaller pieces for shipment, mean the same thing.

Isn't that odd? But in English, not so much. An alarm clock goes off when it goes on, and a house burns down when it burns up.

We just speak it, we can't be expected to explain it. Good luck.

[karina1]

that helps me.

thank you or muchas gracias as you say in Mexico.