Put A down to B

Question

Hi teachers~I am wondering which one is the most common.Put A down to BI put the children's https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bad https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/behaviour down to the https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fact that they were https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/tired.Ascribe A to BTo what do you ascribe the https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/enormous https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/success of https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/your https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/latest https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/book?Attribute A to BHer https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/success can be attributed to three https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/main https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/factor.Thanks in advance~

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

pen slide 883I am wondering which one is the most common.

None is all that common in everyday English. I would expect "because" (The children were bad because they were tired.), "make" (What made your book such a success?), and "go into" or "contribute" (Three main factors contributed to/went into her success.).

pen slide 883I put the children's bad behaviour down to the fact that they were tired .

"To put something down to something" is a figure of speech that avoids the more formal "ascribe" and "attribute". It is more common that either of those.

pen slide 883To what do you ascribe the enormous success of your latest book ?

This is formal and correct, and it sounds educated to the uneducated and is liable to sound like Greek to them.

pen slide 883Her success can be attributed to three main factors .

I think that this is more familiar to the average person than "ascribe" and can be used without fear.

Put A down to B

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬