Put on means to dress yourself in clothes, shoes or glasses, or to gain weight. In the first meaning you can say put on a coat or put a coat on, but with a pronoun only put it on. In the second, people say put on weight or put on three kilos.
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put on + clothes/shoes/glasses; put it on; put on + weight/two kilos
- It was colder than I expected, so I put on a jumper before leaving the office.
- Wait a second, I need to put my glasses on to read the menu.
- I put on three kilos over the holidays, so now I walk to work.
What changed
First versionMy sister put on a long red dress to her friend's wedding.
RevisionMy sister wore a long red dress to her friend's wedding.
It can seem natural to use put on whenever you mention clothes at an event. But put on describes the moment of getting dressed. To say what someone had on at a celebration, use wear: wore a dress to the wedding.
Put on is an action, while wear is a state: what someone has on now or had on all evening. I put on a scarf in the morning and wore it all day. For glasses or a uniform that someone has on all the time, also use wear: He wears glasses.
Your turn
She quickly ___ her coat, grabbed her keys and ran out of the flat.
Show the answer
put on — This is a chain of quick actions: she put on her coat, grabbed her keys and ran out. The moment of dressing is put on. Wore describes what someone had on for a period of time, so it doesn't fit this sequence.
Describe how you get dressed before going out in winter. Name two things you put on and the order you put them on in.
Before I go out in winter, I put on a thick jumper first and then my warm coat.
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