Put together means to build something from parts (furniture, a model) and to prepare or organise something (a plan, a team, a report). The second meaning fits when different elements are combined into something new: put together a menu, put together a team.
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put together + noun / put + noun + together; put it together; noun + put together (= combined)
- It took us all Saturday to put the new bookcase together.
- Our team put together a short video to present the project to investors.
What changed
First versionIt took us three hours to collect the new wardrobe.
RevisionIt took us three hours to put together the new wardrobe.
Collect means to gather or build up a set of things (collect stamps, collect data) or to pick something up: collect a parcel. So a native speaker would understand collect the new wardrobe as 'pick up the wardrobe from the shop'. If a wardrobe is built from parts, you need put together or assemble. The mistake comes from treating gathering things and building something from parts as one idea, while English keeps them apart.
After a noun, put together means 'combined': Our team sold more than the other two teams put together. Don't confuse it with get together, which is about people meeting: Let's get together on Friday.
Your turn
Our manager asked me to ___ a short presentation for Monday's meeting.
Show the answer
put together — A presentation is prepared by combining slides and data into one whole, which is put together. Collect fits things that already exist: documents, signatures, data. The presentation doesn't exist yet, so collect doesn't work.
Write about a time you prepared something complicated: a report, a trip or a celebration. Say what exactly you prepared and how long it took.
Last spring I put together a two-week trip around Georgia for my family, and the planning took almost a month.
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