| Don’t Say | Say This |
| Pick it up the pencil. or Pick up it. |
Pick up the pencil. or – Pick the pencil up. or – Pick it up. |
| I’m going to pick it up my daughter. | I’m going to pick up my daughter. or – I’m going to pick my daughter up. |
| I’m going to pick up her/she. | I’m going to pick her up. |
Remember
- to pick up is a “phrasal verb” (a two-word verb). The most common meanings are:
- To lift something/someone from a surface
Ex: He picked up his book. - To meet someone and take them with you.
Ex: I have to pick up my kids after school.
- To lift something/someone from a surface
- You can pick something up – or – pick up something
Ex: Pick up the package. or Pick the package up. - But – You can only use a pronoun in the middle – between “pick” and “up”
You can Pick her up or Pick it up.
Incorrect: Pick up it. or Pick up her. - Also, Don’t use the noun and its pronoun together.
Pick up the phone. – or – Pick the phone up. -or- Pick it up.
But NOT: Pick it up the phone. - There are some other meanings of this phrasal verb too.
- You can see pick up used as part of a conversation in many examples from YouGlish below. You can press the Next Track button
to see another example.