Writing and typing
These days, the idea of "writing" no longer just means writing with a pen, but also typing on a computer keyboard or on your phone. If you want to make it clear that you mean writing with a pen, you can say write by hand:
- My grandfather still writes letters to friends by hand.
If you write by hand, it's important to have good handwriting. And if you type a lot, it's useful to know how to touch type, i.e. type with ten fingers and without looking at the keyboard.
Notes
You can take (or make) notes at a meeting, when you listen to a lecture or when you read a book:
- I tried to take notes during the lecture, but my professor was talking too fast.
If someone tells you something, you might make a note of it or note it down, so that you don't forget it:
- I'll just make a note of your phone number. What was it again?
You can also jot it down, which means "note it down quickly on a piece of paper":
- Look, I jotted down the name of that Greek restaurant. It's the Taverna Limani.
People often write things in rough or make rough notes and then type their notes up later:
- I've made some rough notes of the meeting. How about I type them up and share them with you?
If you have to write an assignment or you're writing an important e-mail, you might write a rough draft first and then write a final draft or make a fair copy of it later:
- Here's a rough draft of the report. Could you look at it and let me know if you think it needs any changes?