Read phrasal verbs in agent plans
Bobby Huang ·
Locate the verb and the small word that joins it to express the proposed action. Read them together even when the thing affected stands between them. In an invented plan, putting a change off means postponing it; off does not describe a separate movement. Retain the thing affected and any stated timing when paraphrasing. Read the surrounding prose to decide whether that sense fits. If the passage leaves the action unclear, keep its meaning open rather than inventing a physical action.
Key takeaways
- A verb and its particle can express one action together.
- Words between the verb and particle need not separate their meaning.
- A paraphrase retains what the action concerns and when it applies.
- Surrounding prose supports the reading of the complete expression.
A plan says to put a change off. Reading put as placing something and off as a direction leaves you picturing movement. Yet the expression can describe postponing the change. The small word belongs with the verb in the action you are reading.
These invented passages feature the fictional Jane Doe. Read their proposed actions as prose, leaving the work unperformed. For the agent's Markdown filename, the meaning of its .md ending is a separate topic.
Locate the expression that carries the action
Read this invented plan sentence:
Jane Doe will put the change off until after lunch.
Begin with put, then read onward through the change to off. The expression is put off. Here it means postpone. The change is what is postponed, and until after lunch gives the timing.
Try that meaning in your reading: Jane Doe will postpone the change until after lunch. The sentence remains about the change and its timing. Nothing in this passage describes placing an object somewhere.
Stay with the expression actually present. Reading only put leaves its particle behind. Reading only off leaves the word detached from the action it helps express. Neither isolated word carries the postponement described by the pair.
Keep the separated particle with its verb
In the quoted line, the change sits between put and off. That placement does not make off a new action. Carry put and off together while retaining the intervening words as the thing affected.
You can hold the reading in ordinary prose: the plan postpones the change until after lunch. This paraphrase brings the meaning of the separated expression into one verb without dropping what is postponed.
Avoid treating the intervening words as a reason to stop looking for the rest of the expression. Read through to off before deciding what put means here. The particle is part of the wording you received even though it is separated from the verb.
The example uses a short prose quote. For a different enclosure, read about blocks of code in Markdown. Here, interpret the quoted prose without running its proposed action.
Compare the action with the surrounding prose
Consider an invented alternative wording:
Jane Doe will put off the change until after lunch.
Now put and off stand next to each other. The action is still postponing the change until after lunch. Bringing the words together on the page has left that meaning intact.
Compare the two expressions in place. The first puts the change between the verb and particle; the alternative puts the change after them. Both passages name the same person, the same change and the same timing.
Describe the separated expression through that comparison, without imagining another event. Neither line describes Jane Doe placing the change somewhere before postponing it. There is one proposed postponement in each sentence.
Use the surrounding prose when another passage leaves the sense less clear. Familiarity with the verb leaves the complete expression's meaning undecided. Read what the action affects and what the nearby wording says about it before committing to a paraphrase.
Paraphrase the action without adding a reason
For the first invented line, retain this reading:
Jane Doe will postpone the change until after lunch.
The person remains Jane Doe. The action concerns the change, and the timing remains after lunch. The paraphrase keeps the meaning of put off while leaving its separated wording behind.
Neither invented plan sentence says why the change is postponed. Lunch supplies timing, without stating a reason for the delay. Avoid adding that Jane Doe dislikes the change or needs more time to consider it. Those details would go beyond these words.
An interpretation saved separately needs an identifiable filename; choosing names for Markdown writing concerns that choice. Within your interpretation, keep the quoted line beside the paraphrase so the expression you read remains visible.
Finish with the proposed action expressed in ordinary words. Keep the verb and particle together in meaning, including when the page separates them. Leave any unstated motive open, and leave the imagined work unperformed.
Where Sashmark fits
Desktop Markdown reading, paired with Markdown editing, is Sashmark's planned v1 role. No internal AI forms part of that app, still in development; the agent stays external.
Questions
- Does a particle belong only to the word beside it?
- Read back to the verb as well. The thing affected can stand between the verb and its particle while they still express one action.
- Is a separate literal meaning enough?
- Read the complete expression in its passage. Giving each word an isolated sense can leave you imagining an action the prose does not describe.
- Which details survive a paraphrase?
- Keep the action expressed by the whole phrase, the thing it affects and any stated timing. Leave unstated reasons unwritten.