Take

Take means ‘move with something or someone from where the speaker or listener is to a different place’:

Can you take this to the post office for me, Neil? (Neither the speaker nor the listener is at the post office.)

Take: other meanings

Take can mean ‘remove without permission’:

Four valuable paintings were taken in the burglary and some of my mother’s gold jewellery. (The paintings were stolen.)

Take can mean ‘accept’:

Does the restaurant take credit cards?

We can use take to mean ‘have’ when we talk about things we add to our food:

I take two sugars in my coffee but none in my tea.

Warning:

We don’t use take when we talk about having a meal or a drink:

After the cinema we usually go for a pizza.

Not: After the cinema we usually take a pizza.

Why don’t we have a coffee together tomorrow?

Not: Why don’t we take a coffee together tomorrow?

We use take to talk about time and duration:

It takes less than two hours to get to Rome from here.

It took us a week to paint the house.

We use take in a lot of phrases, especially with nouns. In these cases, the meaning of take depends on the noun:

take advantage (of something)

take (someone’s) advice (about something)

take care (of something)

take charge (of something)

take an interest (in something)

take notice (of something)

take ownership (of something)

take part (in something)

take responsibility (for something)

take time (to do something)

The concert took place in a 17th-century church.

Twelve hours later the medicine took effect and she felt much better.

We use take with different particles:

Steve really took to San Francisco. (= liked)

I think I shall take up jogging in the mornings. (= begin jogging)

The plane didn’t take off until five o’clock. (= didn’t leave the ground)

A good learner’s dictionary will provide a full list of phrases with take and the particles used with it.

We don’t use take when there is movement with something to the speaker or the listener:

Can you bring me the book from the desk, please?

Not: Can you take me the book from the desk, please?

We don’t use take when we talk about having a meal or a drink:

We had lunch together and talked a lot.

Not: We took lunch together …

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