chalk up — attribute to / regard as the result of
phrasal verbC1IELTS 7+neutraloccasional
to say that something happened because of a particular reason, or to consider something as being caused by something else, often used for explaining success, failure, or an event.
Say it like a native
Textbook The defeat may be attributed to a deficiency of adequate preparation.
Native You can chalk the loss up to bad prep.
'Attributed to a deficiency of preparation' is formal; 'chalk up to' is the casual idiom.
Pattern: chalk something up to something
In use
- She chalked her poor exam results up to a lack of sleep rather than a lack of ability.work
- Many people chalk up their career success to having supportive mentors early on.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ I chalked it up for experience.
✓ I chalked it up to experience.
'Chalk something up TO [a cause]', not 'for'.
Common collocations
chalk up to— to experience, to bad luck, it up to, another
Don't confuse it
This sense is different from the more literal use of 'chalk up' meaning 'to achieve' or 'to score' (e.g., 'chalk up a win'), as here it focuses on explaining the reason for something, not just recording it.