English has many phrasal, or two-word verbs, consisting of a verb plus a function word that may function as a preposition or not; if it does not function as a preposition, we call it a verb particle. Note that even if it looks exactly like a word you have always called a preposition, such as 'up', it is now called a particle if it functions as such.
Let's begin with the following examples:
a) The parents [called on] the teacher. [to call on]
b) The parents [called up] the teacher. [to call up]
Example (a) is called a non-separable phrasal verb or a prepositional
verb because the two words cannot be separated. We cannot say:
*'The parents [called] the teacher [on].'
We still call 'to call on' a phrasal verb, even though it is
non-separable, because semantically it has a meaning that is different
from just 'to call'. To make things simpler ( or more complicated!),
many sources refer to this type of phrasal verb as a prepositional verb,
indicating that the second part is acting like a preposition syntactically,
even though it is acting like a particle semantically.
Example (b) is called a separable phrasal verb or a particle
verb because the two words CAN be separated,
as in:
'The parents [called] the teacher [up].'
For most of these verbs, either order is correct: The parents
[called up] the teacher -- The parents [called] the teacher [up]
One of the best tests to see if the verb in question is a separable
or non-separable verb is to put a pronoun in the object position.
Using the above examples:
a) The parents [called on] her.
b) *The parents [called up] her.
For the non-separable verb 'to call on' in (a), this sentence is just fine. And if you try to separate the two parts, they STILL cannot be separated. We don't say: *The parents [called] her [on].
Note in example (b) that now, for the separable verb 'to call up',
if the object of the verb is a pronoun, the two words MUST be separated
by the object: 'The parents [called] her [up].'
We don't say: *The parents [called up] her. It is ungrammatical.
Conclusion: If the verb is a separable phrasal verb and has a direct object in pronoun form, the two parts of the verb MUST be separated by that object pronoun.
(1) Movement: If you can move the word that looks like a
preposition immediately to the right of the object noun phrase, then it
is a particle. If you can't it's a preposition.
She [looked up] the number. She [looked] the
number [up]. [particle]
She [looked up] the chimney. *She [looked]
the chimney [up]. [preposition]
[Look out] the window. *[Look] the window
[out]. [preposition]
[Take out] the garbage. [Take] the garbage
[out]. [particle]
(2) Passive: If there is a direct object, if the second
part is a particle, you can expect a corresponding passive. The other
type has a prepositional phrase, so there is no corresponding passive.
She [looked up] the number.
The number was [looked up] by her. [particle] - we can
say the passive form.
She looked up the chimney.
*The chimney was looked up by her. [preposition] - passive
is not grammatical
(3) Question: This may seem counter-intuitive to what I've
said so far, but if you make a WH question, it is the PREPOSITION
that can be moved to the front or separated from the verb. A verb
particle cannot be moved to the front of a WH question.
Sara [looked at] the picture.
[At ] what did Sara [look]? [preposition] - the whole prepositional
phrase can be fronted - [At what]. The prepositional phrase is a
unit.
Sara [looked up] the number. *Up
what did Sara look? [particle] - We say, 'What did Sara look up?'
This means that 'up' is not functioning as part of a prepositional phrase.
The passive and WH question tests are good, but if you don't understand them fully, the movement test is pretty much a sure thing.
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