"Look for" vs "Look up"

[Tom]

Hi

While my hunt goes on, I would take this opportunity to ask this question.

We can say, I think:

Look for it. but

We cannot say, I think:

Look up it.

The second sentence should read as Look it up! I would like to know when in both cases we are dealing with two phrasal verbs, why one can take "it" in the end and one cannot.

Tom

[Yankee]

Good morning, Tom

Have you tried Slava's new and improved search function for this question? It seems to me Alan gave a very good explanation not too long ago.

Amy

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

My you're busy! Look it up means try to find and is a phrasal verb: If you don't know the meaning of a word look it up in the dictionary.

Look up it means possibly look through a tube from the bottom of it to the top. This is really no different from other uses of look with a preposition: look out of the window/look at the picture/look through the telescope - and they are not phrasal verbs.

A
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