phrasal verb · neutral
put back
/pʊt bæk/PUT·BACK
speakingtask2
return something to its former place; postpone to a later time
Examples
“They put the books back on the shelf after reading.”
“Because of the storm, they put the match back until next week.”
“Can you put the vase back where it was?”
Band 8 sentence
“After reviewing the evidence, the committee decided to put the vote back to allow more consultation with stakeholders.”
Collocations
- put the meeting back
- put something back on the shelf
Word family
put back vputs back vputting back v-ing
Common mistakes
I put the book.→I put the book back.
I put the meeting later.→I put the meeting back.
Say it for a higher band
5return→6postpone→7+put back
Synonyms
return
Easily confused
put off
“They decided to put off the interview until the candidate recovered.”
Related words
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In put …
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