put
part of speech
verb (put, puts, put, putting); noun (shot put — a sport)
meaning for a pupil
1) To put is to move something to a place: put the cup on the table. tree →
2) To put is to bring into a state: put the baby to sleep. tree →
3) To put can mean to write or say: put your name at the top; put it simply. tree →
4) With small words put has many meanings: put on (clothes), put away, put off (delay), put up with (bear), put out (a fire), put up (a tent, or a guest for the night). tree →
5) (casual) «Stay put» means stay where you are; «put a sock in it» means be quiet; «put your feet up» means rest. tree →
6) (rough) «Put up or shut up» means prove it or be quiet; «put someone down» means make them feel small. tree →
7) (euphemism) «Put down» or «put to sleep» said about a pet means the vet ended its life gently; «put away» can mean sent to prison. tree →
8) (formal) The exam voice says «place», «deposit», «position», «allocate», «insert», «distribute». tree →
9) To put something to rights means to set it in order or to repair it. tree →
sense in the lessons
placing things on the table (the count goes up); «put together» = add; «put into N equal groups» = divide; «put back» returns things; in class «put up your hand», «put your name on it»; in everyday life «put on your coat», «put away your toys», «put the kettle on»; in safety «put out a fire», «put on a helmet»; in casual talk «stay put», «put a sock in it»; as a euphemism «put to sleep» (a pet); in the exam voice «deposited», «placed», «allocated into»
examples
- I put three spoons on the table. tree →
- When we put two groups together, we add. tree →
- Kim puts 20 buttons into 4 equal groups. tree →
- Put your name at the top of the page. tree →
- Put your hand up if you know. tree →
- Put on your coat; it's cold. tree →
- Please put the toys away. tree →
- The firefighters put out the fire. tree →
- If you get lost, stay put and call for help. tree →
- put 2 more plates out, nan + grandad coming tree →
- Oh, put a sock in it, I'm trying to count! tree →
- Twenty buttons are allocated equally into 4 receptacles; state the number deposited in each receptacle. tree →
- Could you put that to rights?" tree →
note
«put together» = add; «put into N equal groups» or «allocated equally into N» = divide; «put on the table» = the count goes up. Past form is also «put» (not «putted»): Yesterday I put it here. «put out» can mean put out more plates (add) or put out a fire (stop it): read the object. «put to sleep» about a pet means it died; it is not about bedtime. «stay put» when lost is a good safety rule.
In the corpora
- Families visit graves, send cards, mark the anniversary, hold memorial services and even put up benches with little plaques.
- Saving means putting money aside now for something bigger later, or for emergencies like a broken boiler.
- Scene: in Sydney in March 2024, Mum puts her phone down quietly.
- AI can sort emails at work and save time, but it sometimes puts important ones in the wrong pile.
- Multitrack recording puts each part on its own track, so one singer can record many layers of harmony.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «put» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.