Get someone in wrong

Status
Not open for further replies.

Rachel Adams

Key Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2018
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Georgia
Current Location
Georgia
Hello.

In the meaning of "get someone in wrong" can I use "put someone in your place?" As in, "He didn't want to admit that he was to blame instead he put his friend in his place and made everyone believe that his friend was guilty." Not sure that makes sense.
 
The phrase in question is not correct as it doesn't exist in English (as far as I'm aware). Where did you hear/see it?
 
I think you mean get someone in trouble.
 
'To put someone in the wrong' is not used much these days. It's best avoided.

Here are a few examples from literature – none of them modern:

It is unnecessary; it puts us in the wrong; it is fatal.
"Robert Toombs" by Pleasant A. Stovall
[STRIKE]The messages must go and I must hear them sent or the boys would put in wrong words.
[/STRIKE]
"To Love" by Margaret Peterson
[STRIKE]If a tool is put down in the wrong place by mistake, it is difficult to get the impression out entirely.[/STRIKE]
"Bookbinding, and the Care of Books" by Douglas Cockerell
She had insulted him deliberately and put herself in the wrong.
"Brand Blotters" by William MacLeod Raine
But that doesn't put me in the wrong.
"Captain Desmond, V.C." by Maud Diver
[STRIKE]In dusting the room she puts all my things in the wrong places.[/STRIKE]
"Masterpieces of Mystery, Vol. 1 (of 4)" by Various
Constant hesitated, tried to avoid the real issue, and of course put himself in the wrong.
"The Doomsman" by Van Tassel Sutphen
[STRIKE]He shall not put our tears into the wrong bottle, nor set down the sum of our groans in the wrong column of His book.
[/STRIKE]"Robin Tremayne" by Emily Sarah Holt
[STRIKE]He was in a great sputter I tell you, when I let him know that he'd put his horse into the wrong stall.[/STRIKE]
"In Orchard Glen" by Marian Keith
[STRIKE]Aghast in the instant apprehension of something wrong, he sprang to her couch, dropped to his knees, and put an arm about her.[/STRIKE]
"The Beloved Woman" by Kathleen Norris
You are trying to put me in the wrong?
"The Tree That Saved Connecticut" by Henry Fisk Carlton
The case becomes therefore a very delicate one, requiring the greatest care on our part not to put ourselves in the wrong.
"The Letters of Queen Victoria, Volume III (of 3), 1854-1861" by Queen of Great Britain Victoria
His mother's white wistful face seemed to put him in the wrong.
"Wee Wifie" by Rosa Nouchette Carey
[STRIKE]Something went wrong however; either too much water had been put in her tanks or else the steering gear refused to work.[/STRIKE]
"Aircraft and Submarines" by Willis J. Abbot
He tried, instead, to put her in the wrong.
"Tante" by Anne Douglas Sedgwick
He had clearly put himself in the wrong and he was admonished by the Governors.
"A History of Giggleswick School" by Edward Allen Bell
Thus Frontenac found an excellent occasion to put Perrot in the wrong and to hit him through his henchmen.
"The Fighting Governor" by Charles W. Colby
[STRIKE]You think, perhaps, I have put the requirements in wrong order.
[/STRIKE]"The Stones of Venice, Volume I (of 3)" by John Ruskin
Mr. Tillington had deliberately chosen to put himself in the wrong by disappearing mysteriously at the last moment.
"Miss Cayley's Adventures" by Grant Allen
It is his one means of putting himself in the right and everybody else in the wrong.
"A Journal of Impressions in Belgium" by May Sinclair

 
Last edited:
'To put someone in the wrong' is not used much these days. It's best avoided.

Here are a few examples from literature – none of them modern:

What expression do native speakers use nowadays? In a situation when you secretly put the blame on someone and as a result that person becomes responsible for something they haven't done. That happens in crime stories especially.
 
set someone up

More specifically, in the context of crime, frame somebody.
 
shift the blame to somebody, make somebody a scapegoat.
 
set someone up

More specifically, in the context of crime, frame somebody.
John Mortimer's Rumpole stories tell me that, at least in Cockney slang of some years ago, the act of doing so could be described as putting someone in the frame.
 
John Mortimer's Rumpole stories tell me that, at least in Cockney slang of some years ago, the act of doing so could be described as putting someone in the frame.
Thank you.
I could find only one example of "Get someone in wrong".
 
I could find only one example of "Get someone in wrong".
I'd be mystified if I encountered the phrase without context that made its meaning obvious.
 
That's not surprising.

Ah, jutfrank was talking about this phrase? I thought he meant this one "to put someone in your place". Is it correct?
 
No, I was talking about get someone in wrong—as in the thread title. It doesn't exist.

put someone in their place does exist, but not in any way similar to what we're talking about.
 
Last edited:
No, I was talking about get someone in wrong—as in the thread title. It doesn't exist.

put someone in their place does exist, but not in any way similar to what we're talking about.

I found it Collins online dictionary.
 
The main problem is that in your title and in post #1, you didn't include the article. If you look at all those examples in post #4, they all use "in the wrong". Had that been used in the first post, you'd have got a different response.
 
What expression do native speakers use nowadays? In a situation when you secretly put the blame on someone and as a result that person becomes responsible for something they haven't done. That happens in crime stories especially.

Could use/hear/read "framing someone" or "passing the buck".
 
OK, well, it's no wonder I've never heard of it as it says "American" at the top. It's not used in BrE.
 
OK, well, it's no wonder I've never heard of it as it says "American" at the top. It's not used in BrE.

But do you use ''Get someone in the wrong'' in BrE?
 
No. I was referring to phrases such as "I'm sorry. I was in the wrong".
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Ask a Teacher

If you have a question about the English language and would like to ask one of our many English teachers and language experts, please click the button below to let us know:

(Requires Registration)
Back
Top