Take Take Take

Sometimes it's the most simple verbs which are the most difficult to learn. Take - It seems like an easy verb to most native speakers. So easy it can be used all the time. And that's the problem. In English we use many verbs such as take, make, do and have extensively.

We use take as a main verb, usually meaning to carry something from one place to another. But does it mean that? I can also say I take a bus to work, but I certainly don't carry the bus. Take is one of those verbs with lots of different usages and we have to learn when and how to use it if we are a learner. One way of learning how to learn such verbs is to learn collocations i.e. combinations of words that are very frequently found together e.g.

take the bus
take heart
take my advice

If groups of words are learnt together, it will be easier for the learner to use them together. But that's not the only difficulty with take. It is also used with many prepositions as a phrasal verb e.g.

take on
take off
take in

These are so similar for learners that they are very confusing to learn. Not only that, sometimes they can have more than one meaning e.g.

The plane took off early. =left the ground
Comedians are always taking off politicians. =making jokes about

If you're interested in learning more and discussing 'Take' I'll be holding a class on Edufire on 7 September at

http://edufire.com/classes/8068-how-to-use-the-verb-take

In the meantime, If you're learning English, what do you find difficult about common verbs?