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Meaning trap

write up

evaluate formally

To produce a formal, often critical, evaluation or assessment of someone or something, especially in a professional, academic, or business context.

phrasal verbC1rare

Don't mix these meanings

Same phrase, different job.

evaluate formally

To produce a formal, often critical, evaluation or assessment of someone or something, especially in a professional, academic, or business context.

write up (to write a report or article using notes you made earlier)

'write up' also has the more basic meaning 'to write a report or article using notes you made earlier'; this is the advanced sense.

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Hear it in context

Notice where the phrase sounds natural.

  • The manager decided to write up the employee for repeated lateness, which will go on his record.business
  • In some organisations, supervisors are required to write up staff members who violate company policy, ensuring that there is a formal record of any misconduct.IELTS speaking

Fix the pattern

Pattern: write up someone/something

WrongShe was written up of poor performance.

RightShe was written up for poor performance.

'Write someone up FOR' something — not 'of'.

Patternwrite up someone/something

Use it right

Choose the version that sounds natural in speech.

Stiff The supervisor formally documented the employee's misconduct.

Natural The manager wrote him up for being late.

'Write someone up' is the workplace verb for formally reporting them (American usage); the formal version is wordy.

Build natural chunks

Words that usually travel with it.

  • write up + for
    for misconductfor being latea reviewa report on

Don't confuse it

This sense is different from the B1 meaning of 'write up' (to create a report from notes), as it focuses on the act of formally evaluating or assessing, not just reporting information.

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