Answer:
Ran up.
Explanation:
A verb is one of the parts of speech in English language. Verbs can be defined as any word that describes an action, occurrence, or state of existence. Some examples of verb are dance, sing, walk, play, run, sit, etc.
A verb phrase is simply the part of a sentence that contains both a verb and either an indirect or direct object.
Additionally, an object refers to the person, thing, idea or place that receives an action performed by the subject. Also, a direct object is the specific thing a subject acts upon and as such it answers the question of what, whom or who.
Hence, an example of a verb phrase in the sentence "Saundra could have taken the easy route, but she focused on the reward of better physical fitness and ran up the hilly road instead of the flat road" is ran up because it defines the dependent action.
