This weekend, I had the pleasure of staying in the Hilton Garden Inn in Schaumburg, Illinois.  On the bedside table was a pamphlet entitled, “In-Room Comfort Guide.” I happily read about the superlatively comfy bed and pillow I was to sleep on and the ergonomic chair I would sit in while working on my laptop.  Then I turned to the back page of the pamphlet, where it said:

Workout in the comfort of your own room.

“Do they mean for ‘workout’ to be a noun or a verb?” I asked myself.  “Do they mean, ‘Get a workout in the comfort of your own room’ or does the Hilton have editors who do not know that workout is a noun, not a verb?”

As I read on, I came to the conclusion that the Hilton’s editors have a few things to learn about grammar.  The first sentence of the paragraph under the headline says:

Workout in the comfort of your own guestroom when you check-out our complimentary Stay Fit Kit ® from the front desk.

Oh my!  Not only did the editors miss the fact that the verb to “work out” is TWO words (known as a PHRASAL VERB), but they also did not realize that “check out” should be TWO words!  You would think that editors working for a HOTEL would know that check-out is the noun for what you do when you check out (verb) of a hotel.

Gearing Up with More Phrasal Verbs!

“Work out” and “check out” are just two examples of phrasal verbs that many people get mixed up.  One of my pet peeves is a phrase you might see often on websites, “Signup Here” or “Sign-Up Here.”  “Sign up” (TWO words) is a PHRASAL VERB like “work out” and “check out.”  “Sign-up” or “Signup” is the noun for the act of signing up.  E.g., “The sign-up table is down the hall to your right.”

Other examples of PHRASAL VERBS are:

Break out (noun:  breakout)

Stand out (adjective:  standout)

Take off (noun:  takeoff or take-off)

Make up (noun:  make-up)

Count down (noun:  countdown)

Break down (noun:  breakdown)

Group on (noun:  Groupon) – Just Kidding!!!

Foul up (noun:  foul-up) – Get where I’m going here?

Dear readers, here’s the point:  Just because there is a word in existence that glues the two parts of a phrasal verb together does NOT mean that you can glue those two words together and have the result still be a verb!  If you want to use a verb plus a preposition (up, down, on, off, etc.) as a verb, keep a space between the two parts of the verb.  Do NOT stick them together or you will end up with a noun or possibly an adjective.  You can do better than those Hilton editors, can’t you?

If you have questions or more examples of phrasal verbs that people tend to get confused with their corresponding adjective or noun phrase, please share below!