I have a question about the verb phrase "put on". The sentence:
He put on sunscreen.
seems to be standard English. Would it okay to write "he put on anti-itch cream"?
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Sign up to join this communityI have a question about the verb phrase "put on". The sentence:
He put on sunscreen.
seems to be standard English. Would it okay to write "he put on anti-itch cream"?
He put on sunscreen.
seems to be standard English. Would it okay to write "he put on anti-itch cream"?
Yes, it is 98% correct. Perfectly reasonable conversation:
"Did you remember to put on your anti-itch cream?"
"Yes, I put on my anti-itch cream!"
The remaining 2% is that it is more typical to say one puts a medication on a particular location of the body. As @TRomano points out, sunscreen is worn like clothing (also similar: scents such as perfume and cologne), but medication usually isn't. So we would say,
He put anti-itch cream on his hands.
or
He put anti-itch cream on his rash.
There's one big exception to this rule of thumb though: apparently we don't do this for medicinal products where the site of application is implied. "I put on chapstick" is correct, nobody needs it specified that you put it on your lips.
We put on sunscreen because it is a shielding layer. It's like invisible clothing, as it were.
We apply anti-itch cream because it's used after-the-fact, a remedy, not a prophylactic.
"He put on sunscreen" describes the activity. The sunscreen instructions might say "apply two layers" to describe how to properly accomplish the activity.