phrasal verb (idiom) · neutral
put your finger on
UK/pʊt jɔː ˈfɪŋɡə ɒn/US/pʊt jʊr ˈfɪŋɡər ɑn/put·your·FIN·ger·on
to identify exactly what the problem or cause is
Examples
“I can’t quite put my finger on why the plan failed.”
“She put her finger on the one detail that made the report weak.”
“It’s hard to put your finger on what makes this place so special.”
Band 8 sentence
“Although several factors contributed to the decline, the researcher was able to put her finger on the fundamental economic cause.”
Collocations
- put your finger on the cause
- can't quite put my finger on
Word family
Common mistakes
put my finger→put my finger on
put the finger on→put my/your/his finger on
Say it for a higher band
5identify→6work out→7+put your finger on
Synonyms
pinpoint
identify
Easily confused
pinpoint
“The investigation was able to pinpoint the exact cause of the failure.”
Related words
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