Three-part verbs that never split, and where each sits on the register scale
He looked the word up - He looked down on the idea
How to use this sheet
At advanced levels the trap is not learning these expressions but handling their grammar. Each one is built from a verb, an adverbial particle and a preposition, and the three words behave as a single unit of meaning: nothing can be inserted between them, and the object, whether noun or pronoun, always follows the complete chunk. That makes them simpler than their two-part cousins, which sometimes split, yet learners who have internalised the splitting rule keep trying to apply it here. Register is the second issue: some of these chunks sit happily in formal writing, while others would be replaced by a single-word verb in a report or an essay.
| Expression | Meaning | Register note |
|---|---|---|
| put up with | tolerate something or someone unpleasant | Neutral to informal; formal writing prefers tolerate |
| look forward to | anticipate something with pleasure | Neutral; standard at every level of formality, including business email |
| get away with | escape punishment or criticism for something | Informal to neutral; evade or escape in formal prose |
| run out of | use up the whole supply of something | Neutral; acceptable in most writing, exhaust is the formal twin |
| come up against | meet an obstacle or opposition | Neutral; common in professional and journalistic prose |
| look down on | consider someone or something inferior | Neutral; the expression is polite, the attitude it names is not |
| get round to | finally find the time to do something postponed | Informal; British - American English prefers get around to |
| live up to | be as good as a standard or expectation | Neutral; frequent in reviews, appraisals and marketing |
| stand up for | defend a person, right or principle | Neutral but emotive; defend is cooler and more formal |
| catch up with | reach someone ahead of you; also, of past actions, finally bring their consequences | Informal to neutral; the second sense is a journalistic favourite |
In use
However difficult the clients became, she refused to put up with being shouted at. The sequel never lived up to the expectations the first film had created. Years of quiet corner-cutting finally caught up with the firm's directors.
Watch out
I look forward to hear from you soon.
The error above involves the expression in row two. The chunk's final word is identical in form to the marker that introduces an infinitive, so learners follow it with the base form of a verb. In these three-part verbs, however, the last element is a true preposition, and a preposition can only be followed by a noun phrase or by the -ing form of a verb. The sentence above therefore needs an -ing form in place of the bare verb. The same logic runs through every row of the table: nothing may ever come between the three words, and whatever follows them - noun, pronoun or -ing form - must come after the complete chunk, never inside it.