Right or wrong? (Guest:Iman)

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Guest

#1795 Mon, 07 Jul 03 05:19 AM

I'm a student. I want to know weather the following sentences are correct or wrong.

1. Is the dog sleeping the bone again?
2. Max cleaned the garden up.
3. Max cleaned up the garden.
4. Max cleaned up it.

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Jacko

#1798 Mon, 07 Jul 03 06:41 AM

1. No. Is the dog sniffing the bone again?
2. Acceptable.
3. Acceptable.
4. No. Max cleaned it up.

Jacko

Joined on Fri, Jun 20 2003

Full Member (215)

rishonly

#170592 Sat, 17 Dec 05 12:00 AM

Can you please explain the reason for # 4 being wrong?

rishonly

Joined on Sat, Mar 5 2005

KUMBAKONAM,INDIA

Contributing Member (1,781)

Regards, Krish

Lazarus

#170627 Sat, 17 Dec 05 12:50 AM

Rishonly wrote:
Can you please explain the reason for # 4 being wrong?

It simply would never be used that way. The pronoun wants to be used directly after the verb. Jacko is correct with his alternative.

Lazarus

Joined on Wed, Sep 28 2005

U.S.

Full Member (285)

Nouns, Verbs, Pronouns

rishonly

#170731 Sat, 17 Dec 05 07:52 AM

Hi Lazarus,

'The pronoun wants to be used' is incorrect. You can say 'The pronoun needs to be used' or 'The pronoun should be used ..' or ..etc, in so many ways. My two cents.

rishonly

Nouns, Pronouns

X11

#170861 Sat, 17 Dec 05 04:12 PM

In English you have an fixed word order, except in interrogatives and exclamations.

It looks as this:

Subject + verb + object/complement - this is how an affirmative sentence looks like, normally.

From this your sentence 4. Max cleaned up it, is correct but since it is a verbal phrase consisting of two items you need to split them up and put the pronoun in between. I cannot explain this grammatically. perhaps another one can.

Jay

X11

Joined on Tue, Nov 1 2005

Aarhus, Denmark

Full Member (120)

Teahupoo - A Spectacle Beyond Imagination

Nouns, Verbs, Pronouns, Word order, Affirmative sentences

rishonly

#170885 Sat, 17 Dec 05 05:00 PM

Thanks, X11.

rishonly

X11

#170913 Sat, 17 Dec 05 05:45 PM

De nada rishonly, but i did not explain it grammatically. Anyone able to do so?

Jay

X11

TammyBaby

#170935 Sat, 17 Dec 05 06:25 PM

Uhm, I think "Max cleaned it up" is correct. The question here is where we put the object. Am I right?! If a transitive phrasal verb ends with an adverb, we have 3 possibilities!

1. If the object is a noun phrase, you can put it ever before or after the adverb.
Example: "Max cleaned up the garden" or "Max cleaned the garden up"

2. If the object is a pronoun (I mean: he, she, it... etc.), you have to put it before the adverb. (like the sentence "Max cleaned it up") I give another example. You say "Could you please turn it (eg: the light, TV, fan...) on?", NOT say "Could you please turn on it?") Do you agree?

3. If the object is a long phrase, you usually put it at the end after the phrase verb.
Example: Could you please turn on the light that is on your left-hand?

Is my explanation clear?! I'm not native speaker but I tried my best to explain! Hope it's useful for you!

Tammy