Bring

You ask people to bring things to you and your location. Bring is used in relation to a destination:

“Bring some drinks to the party, please.”

“Bring your toothbrush to me.”

“Could she bring her shoes here?”

Take

You take things to other people and locations. Take is used in relation to a starting point:

“I’m going to take some balloons to John’s house for his birthday party.” (I am thinking about the balloons being at my house – the starting point)

“Take your dog away from me.”

“Please take your bag there.” (the focus is on the implied starting point – here)

In the first and third examples, the starting point is not clearly expressed in the sentence, but understood from context.

IMPORTANT OBSERVATIONS

The similarity between Bring and Take is that they both describe the movement of something from one location to another.

The difference is that Bring describes the movement of something toward a specified location, whereas Take describes the movement of something away from a location. Another way to look at it is, you bring things here and take things there.

Many times both of these verbs can be used correctly in the same sentence, and the only thing that changes is your perspective:

Paul is bringing his cousin to the picnic.

Paul is taking his cousin to the picnic.

Both sentences are correct. In the first one, the focus is on the destination (the picnic), whereas in the second one it is on the implied starting point (Paul’s house or location).

QUIZ

1. He has ___ his car here.

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TAKE generally means to CARRY/ MOVE from one place to another.

• Can you take the kids to school today? 
• Take an umbrella. It’s raining.
• Can you take my shirt to the dry-cleaner?
• Don’t forget to take your driving license with you.

GET usually means to RECEIVE/ OBTAIN.

• I got some flowers. (I received some flowers. Someone gave me some flowers)
• How much do you get for looking after Jane’s children?
• Did you get the tickets?
• I think you should get a new job.

Another difference is that TAKE implies that you may take something from another person who may give the object willingly or not so willingly. GET means that something was voluntarily given to you. For example:

My mom takes my phone when I don’t do my homework. (She takes my phone although I don’t want her to)

I always take some food from my friend’s lunch bag. (I take it because I want to, whether my friend lets me or not)

I get my phone after I do my homework. (My mom willingly gives me my phone after I do my homework)

I always get some food from my friend’s lunch bag. (My friend willingly lets me have some food from his/her lunch bag)

A third difference is that when you TAKE an object from someone, you choose or pick the object.  If you GET something from somebody, the choice is up to the giver. For example:

Do you have more of those scarves?  I will take the pink one.  (I choose the pink one)

I usually get nice presents for Christmas. (Someone else chooses my present, not me)

TAKE and GET also have an active and passive meaning, respectively:

I plan to take my girlfriend to the movie theatre on Friday.

You always get a ride from your mother.

The difference lies in the action taken by the speaker of the sentence and what is done to him/her. In the first sentence, the subject is involved in doing the action of taking someone somewhere. In the second sentence, the subject is not involved in the action as it is the other person, the mother, who is doing the actual action of driving the subject to a place.

QUIZ

Fill in the blanks with TAKE or GET:

1. They normally ______ good grades in school.
2. You _________ your medicine from the pharmacy close to your house.
3. Don’t just ____________ the candy, you need to ask if you can first.
4. I will ___________ the red car, this is my choice.
5. When she _______ a new job, she will be happier.
6. My sister ________ my clothes whenever she wants without my permission.

ANSWERS

1. get, 2. get, 3. take, 4. take, 5. gets, 6. takes

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Many languages have a one-to-one spelling-pronunciation relationship, but the English language has no such thing! This is why English pronunciation can be difficult for students to master.

On top of the 26 vowel sounds and many tricky consonant sounds, students also need to learn the pronunciation of endings that change according to the last sound of a word.

The past tense ending -ed, for example, is pronounced as /t/, /d/, or /ɪd/ depending on the last letter of the verb. Luckily there are easy rules (listed below) for language learners to follow!

Rule 1

-ed becomes /t/ following voiceless consonants

Voiceless (also called soft or unvoiced) consonants refer to sounds that don’t make your vocal cords vibrate. If you put your hand to your throat when you pronounce these sounds, you won’t feel a vibration. These sounds are all soft like a whisper.

Voiceless consonants in English include: /f/, /k/, /p/, /s/, /ʃ/ (also written as /sh/, as in the first sound in “shirt”), /tʃ/ (also written as /ch/, as in the first sound in “cheese”), and /θ/ (also written as /th/, as in the first sound in “thanks”).

When a base verb ends in these sounds, the -ed ending is pronounced with the voiceless sound /t/. The reason for this is that it is natural (i.e., easier to pronounce) for a voiceless sound to follow another voiceless sound.

Rule 2

-ed becomes /d/ following voiced sounds

Voiced (also called loud) consonants and vowels refer to sounds that make your vocal cords vibrate. If you put your hand to your throat when you pronounce these sounds, you will feel a vibration. These sounds are all loud—you can hear the noise they make.

Voiced consonants in English include: /b/, /dʒ/ (as in the first sound in “jump”), /ʒ/ (also written as /zh/, as in the final sound in “beige”), /g/, /j/ (also written as /y/, as in the first sound in “yes”), /l/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ (the “ing” sound), /ð/ (also written as /th/, as in the first sound in “there”), /r/, /v/, /w/, /z/, and any vowel sound.

When a base verb ends in these sounds, the -ed ending is pronounced with the voiced sound /d/. The reason for this is that it is natural (i.e., easier to pronounce) for a voiced sound to follow another voiced sound.

Rule 3

-ed becomes /ɪd/ following t or d

When a base verb ends in the letters t or d, the -ed ending is pronounced with the syllable /ɪd/ (also written as /əd/ or /ed/—the same vowel sound as the word “it”).

The reason we add a whole extra syllable, including a vowel sound, is because it would be impossible to say two /t/ or two /d/ sounds together without a vowel in between. Imagine trying to say “wantt” instead of “wanted” or “needd” instead of “needed”!

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The verbs Say, Tell, Talk, Speak are very similar, however most of the time they cannot be used interchangeably.

SAY/TELL

These verbs are slightly different in the way they are used:

SAY means to express something with words, and

TELL means to give information to a person or to instruct.

Examples:

“Where are they going? She didn’t tell me.” (She didn’t give me the information)

“What did he say?” (what did he express with words?)

“What did he tell you?” (what information did he give you?)

“Say ‘hi’ to Paul for me!”

“Tom’s mother tells him to clean his room.” (instructs him)

Another very important difference is that when you use TELL you MUST have a person following the verb.

For example: “He tells me to do it.” (“me” is the person following the verb “tells”)

SAY is most often used without a person following it.

For example: “Where are they going? She didn’t say.”

If we want to put a person after SAY, we use the preposition to, as in: “I say to all the people of this great country, let’s come together!”

Here are some more illustrations of this difference in almost identical sentences:

“I want to say something about our teacher.”

“I want to tell him something about our teacher.”

“Did he say how it happened?”

“Did he tell you how it happened?”

SPEAK/TALK

Many times you can use SPEAK and TALK interchangeably, but there are a few slight differences between them:

SPEAK is a bit more formal. It also refers to more general topics than TALK.

For example:

“Can I speak with you?”

This is quite general, we’re not being specific about what we want to speak about. But it also sounds a bit more formal, and it sounds like the conversation will be important.

When you use TALK you might add the proposition “about”, as in “Talk about something.”, and TALK is a little more specific.

“Can I talk with you?”

This is a little more casual, a little informal, it doesn’t sound as important. And if we add “about” we can add some more detail, as in “Can we talk about your brother?”

IMPORTANT NOTES

1. You can only use SPEAK when you’re talking about languages.

“They speak French.” NOT “They talk French.”

Though you might hear people say “They talk in French”.

“How many languages do you speak?” NOT “How many languages do you talk?”

2. The following prepositions can be used with these verbs: to, with, about.  You can talk to someone, you can speak to someone, you can talk with someone, or you can speak with someone, or you can speak about something, or you can talk about something – or someone.

QUIZ

Choose the correct verb in the sentences below:

1. Let’s __________ my mother that we forgot.
2. What do you want to ______ ?
3. Does she _________ Arabic?
4. We usually _________ about the weather.
5. I would like to _________ to you about our marriage.
6. The teacher __________ me to do my homework every day.

ANSWERS

1. tell
2. say
3. speak
4. talk
5. speak
6. tells

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The following pictures and explanations are meant to define these specific contexts in order to make it easier for the English learner to choose the correct verb in a given situation.

The verbs COME and GO

COME and GO have the same basic meaning, but are used for different DIRECTIONS.

COME is used to show movement toward or in the direction of the speaker or the person being spoken to. It has a similar meaning to the verb “to arrive”.

For example:

My mom is coming to see me next week. (she is coming in my direction)

Can I come to your house? 

Many times COME is used with the preposition from, which shows the starting point of the movement, as in:

He comes from Italy. 

GO is used to show movement away from the speaker or the person being spoken to. It has a similar meaning to the verb “to leave”.

For example:

We are going to see my mom next week. (we are leaving the place where we are now in order to see my mom)

I need to go now. (I need to leave the place where I am currently)

Many times GO is used with the preposition to, which shows the destination of the movement, as in:

Let’s go to work!

The verbs MAKE and DO

MAKE and DO are just slightly different in meaning.

DO refers to the process, the action in itself, or an obligation.

For example:

I do my homework every day. (process, obligation)

Can you do this for me? (action)

MAKE refers to the product, creating something, or actions you choose to do.

For example:

He makes breakfast every day. (the product is breakfast)

How did you make this bridge? (how did you create this bridge)

There are many expressions with DO and MAKE in English. At times it will be difficult to distinguish the two verbs as explained above, but you will learn the correct way to use each expression through practice.

The verbs LEND and BORROW

LEND and BORROW also have the same basic meaning, but are used for different “directions” of the action.

LEND is used when someone gives something that is their own to somebody else for a certain period of time (temporarily), but the item will need to be returned.

For example:

Could you lend me your pen? (you will give me your pen for some time, but I will need to return it)

I am lending you my bike. (I am giving you my bike for some time, but you will need to return it)

LEND appears with the preposition to sometimes, as in:

Come on, lend it to me!

BORROW is used when someone takes something that belongs to somebody else for a certain period of time (temporarily), but they will need to return the item they are taking.

For example:

He’s always borrowing money. (he always takes money from other people for some time, but he needs to return it)

Can I borrow your phone? (I am taking your phone for some time, but will need to return it)

BORROW appears with the preposition from sometimes, as in:

I borrowed it from you.

Quiz

Fill out the sentences with the correct form of the verbs:

COME/GO

1. I _______ to Spain every summer.
2. Where does he ________ from?
3. ___________ here!
4. ___________ over there!

MAKE/DO

5. Please ___________ a cake for me.

6. They never ___________ the dishes.

7. Can you _________ a kyte?

8. When you _________ your work, you are the best.

LEND/BORROW

9. My father _______ me his car sometimes.

10. I would like to ________________ your computer for an hour.

11. He ____________ my clothes whenever he likes.

12.  _______ her your coat, she is cold!

Answers

1. go
2. come
3. come
4. go
5. make
6. do
7. make
8. do
9. lends
10. borrow
11. borrows
12. lend

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Usage

We use the Simple Present Tense to talk about actions which happen regularly or usually in the present.

Form

Base form of the verb (without “to) for I – you – We – They:

TO WORK ——- I WORK, YOU WORK, WE WORK, THEY WORK

Base form + -s/-es for He – She – It:

TO WORK —— HE WORKS, SHE WORKS, IT WORKS

TO WATCH —– HE WATCHES, SHE WATCHES, IT WATCHES

Key words

The following words demand the use of the Simple Present Tense:

ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY:

Never

Sometimes

Often

Usually

Always

Rarely

These words usually go before the verb: I always go to school.

but after the verb “to be”: You’re often late.

EXPRESSIONS OF FREQUENCY:

Once a day/week/month/year

Twice a day/week/month/year

Three times a day/week/month/year

Every day/week/month

Examples – Every day, I brush my teeth. I go to school once a week.

Quiz

Write the He – She – It forms of the following verbs in the Simple Present Tense:

to spy, to rush, to get, to play, to tax, to employ, to sew, to follow, to fight, to boil, to deny, to meet, to look, to reach, to display, to pass, to fry, to echo, to teach, to ask, to touch, to kiss, to send, to buy, to fax, to hiss

Answers:

1. spies, rushes, gets, plays, taxes, employs, sews, follows, fights, boils, denies, meets, looks, reaches, displays, passes, fries, echoes, teaches, asks, touches, kisses, sends, buys, faxes, hisses

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