Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to write on

to write on

34 3.6
To produce texts like articles or books about a subject
  • phrasal verb
  • /raɪt ɑn/
: escribir sobre
  • Brian McHale, among others, has written on the shift from modern to postmodern poetics, saying,
  • write on the subject
  • write on the topic
  • Much has been written on

Made me feel at peace in my life because of what you wrote on a page.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • He was asked to write on various historical events for the school project.

  • The journalist has decided to write on the impact of climate change on coastal cities.

  • Nearly everyone who has written on the subject has proposed a definition of critical thinking.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Everything that I could not publish in my newspaper, I wrote on my blog.

    Academic text (2008)

  • But Dreze, as well as most others writing on the topic, does exactly this.

    Academic text (1992)

  • "Nice for you," Martha said sharply and continued to write on a pad at the table.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Beforehand, students should have written on index cards the questions that they want to ask.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Content analysis was used to examine the open-ended comments written on the surveys.

    Academic text (2013)

  • For example, my friend Aaron Kotmar wrote on paraconsistent merriology.

  • In her upcoming essay, she will write on the importance of mental health awareness.

Synonyms

to write about
vsto write on
620 2.1

Give details in words about a topic, for example in a book or article

focuses on creating developed text rather than merely giving information

How Detailed

to write on
34 3.6
to mention
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

write on infinitive
writing on present participle
writes on third person singular
wrote on past
written on past participle

Morphology

write + on

The meaning 'compose written work about a particular subject' is directly derivable from 'write' (to produce text) plus the preposition 'on' marking topic or subject; this parallels the common English pattern 'write on/about'. Because this composition is cross-linguistically common and follows standard preposition+verb logic, a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Write on comes from a simple picture: to write words on a page about a topic, like jotting notes on a book. So, to write on something means to make a text 'about' that subject.