Hello everyone, I have received this question in class recently about the difference between Take and Bring in English and have rushed here to clarify it:
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.
2. Would you mind ___ your homework to me?
3. She wants you to ___ her away from here.
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