“Show up” with the meaning of “arrive” does not take a direct object, so you cannot divide it in this sense. Sarah showed the concert up at midnight.Sarah showed up at the concert at midnight.I showed the band up by playing my instrument the best.I showed up the band by playing my instrument the best.However, “show up” can also mean “surpass”, in which case it takes a direct object: One could say I showed up to work late, but not I showed to work up late, because the object “work” does not take the direct action of the verb. “Show up” for example, with the meaning of “arrive” is intransitive, that is, it does not take a direct object. Some intransitive phrasal verbs (the verb doesn’t take a direct object) can also be transitive (the verb does take a direct object) if the meaning changes (yes, phrasal verbs can have several meanings).
Transitive phrasal verbs can be separable or inseparable.Phrasal verbs that can be both transitive and intransitive Phrasal verbs or prepositional/adverbial verbs are verbs composed of a verb and a particle, generally, either a prepositional or adverbial particle to form another verb that usually has a completely different meaning to the verb used when it’s just on its own. My mother woke my older brother up who is eighteen years old and really tall.However, for the sake of reducing ambiguity, it is preferable to put the preposition or adverb (in this case “up”) closer to the verb and put the rest of the context after the preposition or adverb. = correct.Īll three sentences are correct. My mother woke my older brother who is eighteen years old and really tall up.My mother woke my older brother who is eighteen years old up.But what if you wanted to add more context, or further describe the direct object “brother”? Let’s look at a couple of examples: Transitive phrasal verbs can be divided, which means the direct object can go between the verb and the preposition or adverb. Add more context between the verb and preposition/adverb (optional).If you’re new to phrasal verbs and don’t want to make any mistakes in the beginning then you should stick to not separating them, however, once you familiarise yourself with them and you feel more confident then try to divide, it’ll make you sound more native and fluent.
So, if you’re not sure, at first, whether a phrasal verb can be divided then just don’t use pronouns and don’t divide them. So, do you want to be correct 100% of the time? Then, say the following:īut, what happens if you would like to replace “James” with an object pronoun such as “him”? Then, you must divide it, however, this does not contradict the Golden Rule because you don’t have to use a pronoun. (when a verb is intransitive the phrasal verb cannot be divided). “Get along” – intransitive (no direct object):
“Pick up” – transitive (takes a direct object): Let’s take a closer look at both transitive (it takes a direct object – an object that takes the direct action of a verb) and intransitive (no object) phrasal verbs: Regardless of whether a phrasal verb can be divided or not, if you don’t divide them, then you’ll always be grammatically correct.