Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[jasonlulu_2000]

Suddenly, I wanted to write about that, but I wanted to ___it down simply for my own joy, not for Mr. Fleagle, my composition teacher.
A. put B. take

I think both can be collocated with "down", meaning "write down". Am I right?

Thanks

[redset]

In the sense of write down there's a slight difference in meaning between the two: take down means to record some external information - you can take down someone's contact details, or a reporter could take down a statement from someone she's interviewing. It carries a sense of hearing or seeing some information, and writing it down

To put down means to write down some information you already have - you can put down your ideas, or your thoughts for example. It has a sense of creating a physical record of something, which might not already exist.

So for your sentence, I'd say that put works better - it seems like the narrator is creating something, he wants to write it down on paper. If he took it down then he would be recording something he hadn't created - and apparently a composition teacher is involved, which implies he's meant to be creating something!

[jasonlulu_2000]

Thank you very much