Split up means to end a relationship or to divide into parts. About couples: My parents split up when I was ten. With into, the meaning is harmless: to divide into groups or split something into parts. Split up into teams means form teams.
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A and B split up; split up with + person; split up into + groups/teams; split + work/money + up
- My parents split up when I was ten, but they're still good friends.
- Let's split up into two groups: one buys food, the other finds a campsite.
- We split the work up so that everyone had one chapter to translate.
What changed
First versionThe teacher told us to split up on three groups.
RevisionThe teacher told us to split up into three groups.
On can seem right after split up, but when something is divided into parts, English uses into: split up into three groups. On was replaced with into.
Split up is used about any couple, not just married ones. For an official divorce, the phrase is get divorced: They split up in May and got divorced a year later. First people separate, then they make the divorce official.
Your turn
Max and Eva ___ last year, and now each of them has a new partner.
Show the answer
split up — Each of them now has a new partner, so the couple broke up: split up. Made up means they got back together after an argument, and then the new partners would make no sense.
Describe a study or work project where the task had to be divided. Say how many groups you split up into and who did what.
For our history project we split up into three groups: one found photos, one wrote the text, and one prepared the slides.
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