Phrasal verbs cause two problems: the meaning and the word order. This page is about the word order. Some phrasal verbs allow the object to move between the verb and the particle, and some do not.
Pick up is flexible: pick up the bag, pick the bag up, pick it up. Look after is not: look after the baby, never look the baby after. The pronoun test settles most cases in one move.
This page sorts the verbs into separable, inseparable and three-word groups, gives the pronoun rule, and lists the errors learners make most. A 20-question drill closes the page.
The rule
The pronoun test
- Replace the object with it, them, him or her and try both positions.
- If the pronoun can go between the verb and the particle, the verb is separable: pick it up works.
- If the pronoun cannot go between, the verb is inseparable: look after it works only after the particle.
- With a noun object, many separable verbs allow both orders: turn off the light and turn the light off.
Common separable verbs
- Everyday actions: turn on, turn off, put on, take off, pick up, write down, throw away.
- Work and study: fill in, look up, hand in, cross out, sort out, figure out.
- With a pronoun, the object always goes in the middle: turn it on, fill it in, figure it out.
- A long noun object usually follows the particle: "She threw away all the old newspapers."
Common inseparable verbs
- Care and search: look after, look for, wait for (a verb plus preposition group).
- Relations and luck: get on with, run into, come across, break into.
- The object always follows the whole phrasal verb: look after the children, run into an old friend.
- You cannot say look the children after or run an old friend into.
Three-word phrasal verbs
- Some verbs carry two particles: put up with, look forward to, get on with, come up with, get away with.
- The object always follows all the particles: put up with the noise, look forward to the weekend.
- These verbs are always inseparable, and the pronoun goes at the end: put up with it.
- Look forward to takes a noun or a gerund: look forward to the trip, look forward to meeting you.
How to record a new phrasal verb
- Write the verb with two example sentences: one full noun, one pronoun.
- Mark the type in your notes: separable, inseparable or no object needed.
- Learn the meaning group with it, so the verb has an anchor.
- When you are unsure, use a full noun object after the particle. That order is safe with most phrasal verbs.
Examples
- Please turn off the lights.Separable verb with the particle after the verb.
- Please turn the lights off.The same separable verb with the noun object in the middle.
- Please turn them off.A pronoun must go between the verb and the particle.
- She looks after her little brother.Look after is inseparable, so the object follows after.
- I ran into an old friend at the market.Run into is inseparable and means meet by chance.
- Can you help me fill in this form?Fill in is separable: fill this form in also works.
- I cannot put up with this noise.A three-word verb keeps all particles together before the object.
- We are looking forward to the holiday.Look forward to is inseparable and takes a noun or a gerund.
- I looked the word up in the dictionary.Look up is separable, and a noun object can sit in the middle.
- Do not throw it away.The pronoun goes between throw and away.
Common mistakes
- Wrong: Please turn on it. Right: Please turn it on.
- Turn on is separable, so the pronoun it must go between the verb and the particle.
- Wrong: She looks her brother after. Right: She looks after her brother.
- Look after is inseparable, so the object follows the whole verb.
- Wrong: I ran him into at the market. Right: I ran into him at the market.
- Run into is inseparable, so the pronoun follows into, not the verb.
- Wrong: I cannot put up it with. Right: I cannot put up with it.
- Three-word verbs keep their particles together, and the object comes at the end.
- Wrong: She looked forward the party to. Right: She looked forward to the party.
- Look forward to is a single inseparable unit with a fixed order.
Practice drill
Answer all 20 questions. Each answer is marked at once, and the rule is explained under the question.
Please turn ___ the radio.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. on Turn on is a separable phrasal verb, and the particle on follows the verb in this sentence.
Please turn ___ off.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. it The pronoun it must sit between the verb and the particle in a separable phrasal verb.
She ___ her little brother every afternoon.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. looks after Look after is inseparable, so the object follows the whole phrasal verb.
I ___ an old friend at the market.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. ran into Run into is an inseparable phrasal verb and means meet by chance.
Can you help me ___ this form?
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. fill in Fill in is separable; with the noun this form, the particle follows the verb.
Can you help me fill ___ ?
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. it in The pronoun goes between the verb and the particle: fill it in.
I cannot ___ this noise any longer.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. put up with Put up with is a three-word phrasal verb, so the particles stay together before the object.
We are ___ the holiday.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. looking forward to Look forward to is inseparable and keeps its fixed word order.
I ___ the word in the dictionary.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. looked up Look up is separable, and a noun object can follow the particle.
Do not ___ ; it may be useful later.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. throw it away Throw away is separable, so the pronoun it goes between the verb and the particle.
She ___ her coat and left.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. put on Put on is separable, and here the noun coat follows the full verb.
She ___ and left.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. put it on The pronoun goes between put and on, because put on is separable.
He ___ a rare bird in the forest.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. came across Come across is inseparable, so the object follows the particle.
He came ___ in the forest.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. across it In an inseparable phrasal verb, the pronoun follows the particle: came across it.
I need to ___ what happened.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. figure out Figure out is separable, and the clause what happened follows the particle.
I need to figure ___ quickly.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. it out The pronoun goes between the verb and the particle: figure it out.
She ___ her assignment late.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. handed in Hand in is separable, and the noun assignment follows the full verb.
She handed ___ on Friday.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. it in The pronoun goes between hand and in, following the separable rule.
We ___ our neighbours very well.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. get on with Get on with is a three-word phrasal verb with fixed particle order.
Nobody can ___ cheating in the exam.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. get away with Get away with keeps its three particles together before the gerund cheating.
Drill complete
You answered every question.
Next topic: Reported questions: word order and tenseTake the level test
Questions learners ask
Is there a rule to tell separable verbs from inseparable ones?
Not a perfect one, because the grammar grew from usage. The pronoun test is the practical tool: try the verb with it in the middle. If the phrase sounds natural, the verb is separable. Dictionaries also mark the type, and it is worth copying that mark into your notes.
Can a noun object always go in both positions with separable verbs?
Usually yes: turn off the light and turn the light off are both standard. A very long object sounds better after the particle, and some fixed phrases have a preferred order. The pronoun rule is the strict one: pick it up, never pick up it.
What about "look forward to" and a verb after it?
The to in look forward to is a preposition, not part of an infinitive, so the next verb takes the gerund form: I look forward to meeting you, not I look forward to meet you. The same pattern applies to get used to and object to.
More grammar topics
Reported questions: word order and tense
A reported question stops being a question. It takes statement word order, drops the auxiliary, and often moves one tense back.
Reported commands and requests: tell and ask
A reported command takes told plus a person plus to. A reported request takes asked plus a person plus to. The infinitive never backshifts.
Remember, stop, try: gerund or infinitive
With these six verbs, the -ing form looks at the action itself, and to plus the verb looks at the purpose or the task still to do.
Take the free A1 to C2 level test to find your starting point.