send off
SeparableThe object can go before or after the particle — but a pronoun MUST go in the middle: “clean it up”, never “clean up it”.
How to say it
Stress the particle, not the verb: send OFF. Saying “SEND off” is the clearest learner tell — the verb stays light and the particle carries the beat.
Link across the gap. The final /d/ of “send” moves onto the particle and starts its syllable: “send off” is said “sen-doff”. Pausing between the words is what makes phrasal verbs sound recited rather than spoken.
Verb vs noun
As a noun the stress flips to the front: the verb is send OFF, the noun is SEND-OFF. Same two words, different beat — “to send OFF” is the action, “a send-off” is the thing. Getting this backwards makes the sentence land oddly even when every sound is right.
2 meanings
- 1
To post or dispatch something.
- “He finished his report just in time to send it off to his boss.”
- “Send the application off before Friday.”
Similar: dispatch, mail
- 2
To order a player to leave the field.
- “The striker was sent off in the first half.”
Similar: dismiss