I received an email message yesterday from a well-respected anti-virus company to which I subscribe. I was surprised to see a grammar error in the message, because grammar errors are often a give-away of internet scams, and I was sure this was a legitimate message from an established company. The error was a run-together verb that should have been two separate words. How can you make sure you don't make this kind of embarrassing error in your professional communications? First, let's get technical, then let's get practical.
The technical: We have hundreds of verbs in English that consist of two words: a verb plus a particle. A particle is a small word or phrase that when added to a verb creates a new meaning. Here is an example: throw out. To throw something out is different from just throwing it. The word throw is a verb. The word out is a particle. The combination of throw plus out is a phrasal verb. Phrasal verbs often have an associated noun that serves as a description of the action rather than the action itself. The verb throw out does not have such a noun, but many phrasal verbs do. Here are some examples:
Phrasal verbs: shut down, hand out, set up, clean up
Corresponding nouns: shutdown, handout, setup, cleanup
The practical: When in doubt, look the word up in the dictionary. (Did you notice the phrasal verb look up in that sentence?) I recommend using http://www.merriam-webster.com. You can type just m-w.com in your browser to get there. If the word has two forms, verb and noun, the dictionary will list the two separate entries like this:
- shut down (verb)
- shutdown (noun)
Some phrasal verbs also have an adjective form. The verb form of the word will be open (treated as two words). The noun and adjective forms of the word will typically be closed up (one word) or hyphenated.
If the word you look up is not in the dictionary, consider whether the particle is actually needed. If the verb means the same thing without it, don't add the particle. Also, read the entry for the verb alone. You might find that the verb is often used with a particle, but somehow the dictionary does not grant the phrasal form of the verb its own entry (check out wake, for example).
Here is your challenge this week. Locate all of the phrasal verbs and their related nouns or adjectives in this passage. Look them up. Determine whether they should be open, closed up, or hyphenated. Are there any that should have the particle removed? I am eager to hear from you on this one!
The command-and-control infrastructure was shutdown in July 2012 shortly after its discovery. The shutdown came after nearly a month of research into the whereabouts of the installation. A close up view of the building was acquired. The close-up provided by the satellite gave us the access information we needed to close down the facility. After we shut down the operation, we checked out the computer set-up. We provided a breakdown of the servers and connections, and one of our technicians was able to breakdown the pattern of attacks by the software. We called up our database on a smart phone and logged-in the keycodes. After that, we cleaned up the area. The clean up took less than two hours.
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