Break down is an intransitive phrasal verb. You cannot have an object after an intransitive phrasal verb.īroke down in the past tense of break down. The same rule applies to intransitive phrasal verbs. You cannot “ smile something” (incorrect).Īn intransitive verb expresses an action that is complete in itself and it doesn’t need an object to receive the action. Here we cannot have an object after the intransitive verb smile. An intransitive verb does not pass the action to an object. The subject is doing the action of the verb and nothing receives the action. Intransitive verbs cannot have a direct object after them. We will see more about the position of objects with phrasal verbs in another lesson. With some phrasal verbs you can put the object in the middle but that is not always the case. Please take your shoes off before entering the house.However, sometimes the object goes in the MIDDLE of the transitive phrasal verb. The object appears after the transitive verb as we have seen so far. Please take off your shoes before entering the house.Can you turn off the light when you leave the room please?.You should put on a jacket because it’s cold outside.More examples of transitive phrasal verbs in sentences: We need to add an object to make the sentence complete. My keys is the object (that you are looking for). You would automatically think “Looking for what? Looking for whom?” The same rule applies to transitive phrasal verbs. We can see that transitive verbs need an object after them. We added the object “ a dictionary” after the verb. Now the sentence is complete and we can understand it. The object after a transitive verb can be a noun or a pronoun. There is information that is missing.īecause NEED is a transitive verb and a transitive verb needs an object after it to complete the sentence. Transitive verbs require an object to complete their meaning. Verbs in English can be divided into two groups:

Break away phrasal verb