As I have explained before, many common verbs in English have more than one meaning. The verb “put” has many subtle meanings, but the main definition is to place something in a certain location. There is another meaning which most people don’t know about though; it also means to say something in a certain way. For example:
My sister is very articulate. She always puts things in a very impressive way.
A: I thought the movie was really stupid!
B: Well, that’s not how I’d put it, but I didn’t really enjoy it either.
A: Well, how would you put it then?
B: I’d say it was disappointing rather than stupid.
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A: I asked Cary if he liked you and he said that he did.
B: Really? He likes me? How exactly did he put it?
A: He said that he thought you were really pretty and cool.
So I hope this is clear to everyone. The word “articulate” in the first example means that a person can speak very well in their own language. You can check my blog entry from April 30th, 2010 for more examples. If anyone is interested in the other meanings for “put”, they can look up the word at The Free Dictionary; the website link is on this blog page.
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