Take down means to remove something (from a wall or a website), to dismantle something (a tent, a stage), or to write down someone's words, number or details. In the first meaning people say take down the posters or take down a post. In the second: The nurse took down my details.
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take down + posters/curtains/a tent; take down + a post/a video; take down + details/a phone number; take it down
- After the party, we took down the decorations and cleaned the kitchen.
- The company took the video down after customers complained about it.
- During the lecture I took down every date the professor mentioned.
What changed
First versionSomeone posted my photo without asking, so I asked them to take down it.
RevisionSomeone posted my photo without asking, so I asked them to take it down.
Take down can feel like a single verb meaning 'remove', so the pronoun tends to go after it: take down it. But with it or them, down goes after the pronoun: take it down. With a noun both orders work: take down the photo, take the photo down.
For clothes and shoes, use take off: take off your coat. Take down is for things that hang, stand or are published: a poster, curtains, a tent, a post. Write down also means recording something on paper, but take down usually means noting what someone says as they speak: take down what the lecturer says.
Your turn
It started to rain, so we quickly ___ the tent and packed everything into the car.
Show the answer
took down — A tent is dismantled and packed away, so took down. Took off is about clothes, shoes and planes leaving the ground, and it doesn't fit a tent.
Imagine you've phoned a clinic or a service centre. Write which of your details were taken down and why.
The receptionist took down my name and phone number so that the doctor could call me back.
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