turn it on/look after it/ Phrasal verbs object pronoun position

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worcester

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Hello everyone,

Please help me with this one:


R.Murphy English Grammar In Use says:

"Sometimes a phrasal verb has an object. Usually there are two possible positions for the object. So you can say:

I turned on the light. I turned the light on.

If the object is a pronoun (it/them/me/him etc.), only one position is possible.

I turned it on.


But how about this sentence:

She is looking after it.

We can't say [STRIKE]"She is looking him after."[/STRIKE]

So, if "look after" is a phrasal verb, then why don't we put personal pronoun "it" in the middle as it says in the above mentioned rule?

Thank you.
 

5jj

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Unfortunately for learners, there are many different types of what are loosely called 'phrasal verbs'. Here are some of the patterns:

Verb + Preposition
Verb + particle
√ He went into the room.
√ He went into it.
He went into it and other things.
* [STRIKE]He went the room into.[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]He went it into[/STRIKE].
√ He put down the book.
*[STRIKE] He put down it[/STRIKE].
√ He put down it and his glasses
√ He put the book down.
√ He put it down.
Prepositional Verb
Phrasal Verb
√ She got over her illness.
√ She got over it.
√ She got over it and losing her job.
*[STRIKE] She got her illness over[/STRIKE].
*[STRIKE] She got it over[/STRIKE].
√ They blew up the house.
* [STRIKE]They blew up it[/STRIKE].
They blew up it and the nearby factory.
√ They blew the house up.
√ They blew it up.


Intransitive verbs followed by a particle/adverb
Intransitive phrasal verbs
√ Mike walked past.
√ Mike walked quickly past.
√ Mike walked past quickly.
√ The plane took off.
*[STRIKE]The plane took slowly off[/STRIKE].
The plane took off slowly.

Possible
Not Possible
√ He caught up with Jim (and us).

√ He caught up with him.
* [STRIKE]He caught Jim (and us) up with[/STRIKE].* [STRIKE]He caught up Jim(and us)with[/STRIKE].
*[STRIKE] He caught up Jim and us with[/STRIKE]. * [STRIKE]He caught Jim and us up with[/STRIKE].
* [STRIKE]He caught [/STRIKE][STRIKE]him up with[/STRIKE]. * [STRIKE]He caught up him with[/STRIKE].
 
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5jj

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I have just remembered. I posted the full article here.
 

panglossa

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Can't quite see they consider to be the difference between what they call 'verb+particle' and 'phrasal verb' To me both types are simply 'adverbial phrasal verbs'.:?:
 

5jj

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Did you read sections 1.3 and 1.4 in the full article?
 

panglossa

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Did you read sections 1.3 and 1.4 in the full article?

OK, a semantic distinction. Fair enough. (Not sure how vital that really is to a learner struggling with the basic word-order issues, but I'm probably a nit-picker!)
 

5jj

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I wrote it originally for my trainees, who were getting themselves and their students into quite a mess when they dealt with what they called 'phrasal verbs'. The actual labels used aren't important, but I feel that some awareness of the different word order patterns possible is.
 
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