Put away means to put things back where they are kept (clothes, dishes, your phone) and to save money for the future. The first meaning is used all the time at home: Can you help me put the shopping away? The second is close to save: She puts away fifty pounds a week.
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put + noun + away / put away + noun; put it/them away; put away money (save)
- Could you put your phone away while we're having dinner?
- After the party, it took us an hour to put everything away.
- She's been putting away part of her salary to pay for a master's degree.
What changed
First versionAfter dinner I washed the plates and put away them.
RevisionAfter dinner I washed the plates and put them away.
If the object is the pronoun it or them, it goes between put and away: put them away. With a noun, both orders work: put the plates away and put away the plates. Put away them is wrong.
Put away and throw away are easy to confuse: put away old magazines means to put them in a cupboard, throw away old magazines means to get rid of them. Take away means to remove something or carry it off: The waiter took away our plates.
Your turn
I ___ a little money every month, so the summer trip won't be a problem.
Show the answer
put away — This is about money you set aside for a trip, which is put away. Put off is also about leaving something for later, but it means to postpone: put off a meeting. It isn't used for saving money.
Describe how you tidy up at the end of a working or school day. Name two things you put away and where exactly they go.
At the end of the day, I put my notebooks away in the desk drawer and put my laptop away in its bag.
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