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PUT ACROSS
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PUT ASIDE
PUT AWAY
PUT BACK
PUT BY
In English, there are often several ways of saying the same thing. For example, ‘put by’, ‘put
away’ and ‘put aside’ can all be used to describe the process of saving money to spend later.
Another example of this is ‘put down’, which can mean the same as ‘take down’ and ‘write
down’ (record in writing).
PUT DOWN
NOTE: When we say ‘put down’ about a baby, it does not mean we are going to kill an annoying child!
Meanings b) and f) above are very different! Phrasal verbs often have multiple meanings so you must pay
attention to the context in order to understand them correctly.
PUT DOWN TO
PUT FORWARD
PUT IN
b) Install
‘Jim and Henrietta are having their new kitchen put in next week.’
‘What’s going on with all the roadwork? Are they putting in a new bus lane?’
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d) Interrupt
‘“Why don’t we just postpone the project?” she loudly put in.’
Phrasal verbs are not always logical! For example, you can ‘put on’ a shirt, but you cannot ‘put
off’ a shirt. Instead, we say ‘take off’. You cannot say ‘take on’ to mean ‘get dressed’ because
this means ‘to hire’! It is always best to learn phrasal verbs with several examples in context.
PUT IN FOR
PUT OFF
a) Delay, postpone
‘When are you going to learn to drive? You can’t keep putting it off forever!’
b) Make someone feel dislike for, discourage someone from doing something
‘Steve had dirty shoes on the date. That really put me off (him)!’
‘I would’ve gone into medicine, but was put off by the long hours.’
c) Distract
‘I am trying to concentrate, but you’re putting me off! Can you please keep the noise down?’
PUT ON
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b) Gain weight
‘David’s put on a few pounds over Christmas, hasn’t he?’
‘I’ve put a bit on since I quit the gym. I really need to do more exercise!’
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g) Place a bet
‘Geoff put £10 on Arsenal to win the cup final.’
i) Add, apply to
‘Farmers are asking supermarkets to put 10p on a litre of milk to help cover production costs.’
‘These days, parents put too much pressure on their kids to perform well at school.’
PUT OUT
Bear in mind that phrasal verbs can have unexpected slang meanings! ‘Put out’ is one example of
this, but there are many others used in everyday English. For instance, ‘make out’ (USA) and ‘get
off’ (UK) both meaning ‘to kiss’.
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‘Hollywood puts out loads of films that never get shown at the cinema.’
‘Apple puts out a new iPhone once a year.’
‘The police have put out an official statement following the bank robbery.’
PUT OVER
PUT THROUGH
‘Our boss puts all new employees through a series of cognitive tests.’
PUT TOGETHER
PUT TOWARDS
PUT UP
a) Build or erect
‘We’re planning to put up a new shed at the bottom of our garden.’
‘They’re putting up a primary school on the site of the old cinema.’
‘Let’s put the tent up now because it’ll be dark soon.’
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h) Raise hand
‘If you know the answer, please put up your hand.’
PUT UP TO
PUT UP WITH
TASK A
I don’t know how you put up/put up with/put up to your boss. He’s such a bully!
Our sales are down 10% this year. What would you put this down/put this down to/put this
down for?
The financial crisis put the UK economy off/put the UK economy back/put the UK economy
down 5 years.
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I really don’t want John to come to our wedding. Is there any way we can put him off
coming/put him out coming/put him out coming?
I want to put up to/put up/put down some shelves this weekend. Can you give me a hand?
TASK B
Match the phrasal verbs 1-5 with their correct meanings a-e:
1. Put up
2. Put aside
3. Put down
4. Put together
5. Put forward
Bonus task: To test your understanding of these phrasal verbs with ‘put’, try to write one sentence
for each of them.
TASK C
ANSWERS
TASK A: put up with, put down to, put back, put off, put up
TASK C: put out, put towards, put down for, put up to, put through
Remember to download your free copy of this guide to use anytime! Practice makes perfect.
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