Phrasal Verbs with PUT — Proposals and Plans
CEFR B1-B2 • Phrasal Verbs • Put together, put forward, put off — the phrasal verbs you need for proposals
"Put" is the proposal-writer's verb
"Put" combines with prepositions to form the phrasal verbs that show up in every proposal, plan, and pitch deck: "put together," "put forward," "put off," "put on hold." These are the verbs native business writers reach for when they want to sound active and decisive. This page covers the 18 you will use weekly.
Building proposals and plans
put together
create or assemble
"I put together a proposal for the EU expansion."
put forward
propose or present
"Aiyana put forward a hybrid pricing model in the meeting."
put down (in writing)
commit to text
"Let us put the agreement down in writing before we move on."
put through
complete or formalize
"Marina put the contract through legal this morning."
Delays and prioritization
put off
postpone
"We put off the dashboard refactor until Q4."
put on hold
pause indefinitely
"The mobile project is put on hold pending the funding decision."
put on the back burner
de-prioritize (informal idiom)
"The internal tools project is on the back burner this quarter."
put aside
set apart for later
"Let us put that question aside for now and finish the budget review."
Pressure and emphasis
put pressure (on)
apply expectation or urgency
"The deadline is putting pressure on the engineering team."
put emphasis (on)
stress importance
"The new manager puts emphasis on data-driven decisions."
put first
prioritize
"We are putting customer reliability first this quarter."
Investment and commitment
put in (effort, time, hours)
contribute or invest
"The team put in 80 hours on the launch — let us recognize that."
put up (with)
tolerate
"Customers will not put up with another outage this week."
put behind (you)
move past (an event or mistake)
"Let us put the failed launch behind us and focus on Q2."
Action and movement
put into (action / practice / place)
implement
"We are putting the new policy into practice next week."
put out (a fire / an incident)
resolve a crisis
"The on-call engineer is putting out a customer escalation right now."
put across
communicate effectively
"The deck did not put the urgency across — let us redo the headline."
put the brakes on
stop or slow significantly (idiom)
"Legal put the brakes on the launch until we resolve the GDPR question."
Hear them in real proposal sentences
"I put together a proposal for Q3, put forward three scenarios, and put down in writing the assumptions for each."
"We are putting on hold the dashboard refactor and putting customer reliability first. The team has put in tremendous effort already."
"Legal put the brakes on the launch this morning. We need to put the new policy into practice before we can move forward."
"Let us put aside the long-term roadmap for now. The team is putting out a customer escalation, and we cannot put pressure on them for new estimates."
Common mistakes
- "I made a proposal" = OK but flat. More active: "I put together a proposal" or "I put forward a proposal." Shows initiative.
- "We will postpone" = formal/fine, but "We will put it off" is more natural in casual business.
- "Put pressure to the team" → "Put pressure on the team." "On" not "to."
- "Put the project to practice" → "Put the project into practice." "Into" with action verbs.
- "Put down on writing" → "Put down in writing." Preposition is "in," not "on."
Practice: Test yourself
Tap each question to reveal the answer.