Put your finger on something means identify exactly what it is: you have put your finger on the main weakness in the plan, you've hit the point. It's most often negative: I can't quite put my finger on it, something's wrong, but I can't say what. It's very common in conversation.
When would you say put your finger on something?
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can or cannot + put + possessive + finger on + problem, reason or it
- The room felt different, but I could not put my finger on what had changed.
- You have put your finger on the main weakness in the plan.
- After comparing the recordings, she finally put her finger on the source of the echo.
What changed
First versionThey putted their finger on the cause of the delay.
RevisionThey put their finger on the cause of the delay.
Most verbs add -ed in the past, so putted seems logical. But put is irregular: put, put, put. They put their finger on the cause: they found it.
Point the finger at someone means blame them: everyone pointed the finger at me. Put your finger on is about finding a cause, and nobody is blamed. Figure out means work something out or solve it.
Your turn
Choose the preposition in the idiom: I cannot quite put my finger ___ the problem.
Show the answer
on — The idiom uses on: put your finger on the problem. With at you get a different idiom, point the finger at, which is about blame.
Describe what bothers you about a new thing or place, even though the reason is hard to name, using can't quite put my finger on.
The new layout is harder to read, but I can't quite put my finger on the reason.
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