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Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:The Joy of Lex
Notice:A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:THEBAY::SYSTEM
Created:Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1192
Total number of notes:42769

102.0. "Look Up It" by BEING::POSTPISCHIL () Wed Oct 09 1985 17:03

In another note, I used the phrase "look up it" humorously.  It occurs to
me that there is a serious question here.  "Look the word up" sounds correct,
as does "look up the word".  So, since "look it up" sounds correct, why does
"look up it" sound so strange?  I can understand rules based on the usage
of a word in a sentence and its meaning, but "the word" and "it" are both
direct objects in these examples, and they might both refer to the same thing.
What's going on?


				-- edp
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name		DateLines
102.1NUHAVN::CANTORWed Oct 09 1985 20:4511
If you consider the phrase "look up" to be a transitive verb, there are at
least two meanings for it:  1.  look up a reference,  2.  look up a dress.

It seems that the verb can be split by its direct object only for the first
case:  you can look a reference up, but you can't look a dress up.  (If a
department store clerk actually looks a dress up, it is probably the location,
manufacturer, price, or some other reference to the dress that is being looked
up.)

Dave C.
(Not an English major; hell, I wouldn't even make a good English private.)
102.2AURORA::RAVANThu Oct 10 1985 00:048
That reminds me of the currently-popular song, "Take On Me." The choruses
alternate the phrase "Take on me" with "Take me on," and while they ought
to be equivalent - or ought they? - the first usage sounds very odd.

The group *is* Norwegian, so maybe that has something to do with it.
Anybody know anything about word order in Norwegian?

-b
102.3BEING::POSTPISCHILThu Oct 10 1985 08:098
Re .1:

That's interesting, and if you think of "it" meaning "the dress", "look up
it" sort of sounds normal.  But if you think of "it" meaning "the word",
"look up the word" and "look up it" still sound different.


				-- edp
102.4BEORN::BENCEMon Oct 21 1985 13:105
	you can't "look a dress up"
	but you can "look an address up"....

					{clb}