Learning Vocabulary: 10 phrases with take

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Learning goals

Skills: Listening

Vocabulary: Phrases with take

Task: Work out some difficult phrases from context

Learning Vocabulary: 10 phrases with take

In this week's Premier Skills English Podcast, Jack plays a practical joke on Rich and Rich and Rich plans his revenge. The language focus is on a verb with lots of different meanings - take. Jack and Rich look at five different ways of using take and how you can these phrases in your everyday English. Your task is to work out the meaning of some difficult phrases with take from the context we give you. As always, we also have a new football phrase for you to guess. Enjoy!

If you find the podcast difficult to understand, you can read the transcript and listen at the same time.

Read and listen at the same time.

Introduction:

Jack: That was a pretty long day. Have you finished?

Rich: Yes, just finishing up now.

Jack: Do you think you could give me a lift?

Rich: Yeah, sure. I need to take a friend to the airport later but I should have enough time. Where do you want me to take you?

Jack: You can drop me off at the station. I can take the train from there.

Rich: Cool. Where are you going now? Are you not taking the lift?

Jack: No, come on let’s take the stairs. There’s a nice view.

Rich: What you on about? It’s only the car park.

Rich: What the …

Rich: Someone’s stuck loads of stuff on my car!!

Jack: I know!

Rich: What the … what are they? Thousands of post-it notes ... was it you?

Jack: Er … yeah ...Do you like it?

Rich: No! It looks ridiculous! It’s going to take me ages to get them all off!

Jack: Come on! It won’t take long! Can’t you take a joke!

Rich: Look, someone’s taking photos now! Me and my car are going to be all over Instagram or something!

Jack: Don’t take it too seriously!

Rich: I’m not going to take this lying down! You just wait, I’ll get my own back!

Jack: See you tomorrow! Don’t worry about the lift!

Welcome - Take

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich

Jack: and I’m Jack

Rich: and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast

Jack: Where we talk about football and help you with your English.

Jack: What’s happening this week, Rich?

Rich: In this week’s podcast, we’re looking at vocabulary. We’re going to look at some common phrases, collocations and phrasal verbs with the word ‘take’.

Jack: Did you notice that we used lots of different phrases with ‘take’ when I played that prank or practical joke on Rich at the beginning? We’ll take a look at some of these again later on.

Rich: We’re going to look at 10 phrases with take that you can use in everyday conversations and how you can learn phrases with take by putting them in different categories. But before that, let's have a think about some of the phrases with take we use to speak about football.

Jack: Oh, what about … take a penalty. It takes courage to take a penalty.

Rich: Nice. I like it. You can also take a shot, take a free-kick, take a corner and take a throw-in.

Jack: What about to take someone on?

Rich: Yeah, that’s a bit more difficult. I love it when I see Riyad Mahrez or Raheem Sterling taking his man on and then going past him.

Jack: So, it means to dribble and run with the ball rather than passing or crossing the ball when faced with a defender.

Rich: But, in this podcast, we’re going to look at phrases with take that are a little bit more common - phrases that you can use in your everyday English. We’re going to roleplay five short conversations to introduce some phrases with take.

Jack: Each conversation will include some phrases with take. Following each conversation, we will look at how take was used in the phrases.

Rich: We’ll start with easy conversations and each conversation will get more difficult. Conversation number five is the most challenging.

Topic Focus

Rich: Are you ready? Here’s conversation one.

Ring, ring

Jack: Good morning! Could I speak to Harry Kane, please?

Rich: Oh, sorry, Harry’s not here at the moment. He’s training. Could I take a message?

Jack: Yes, that would be great …

Rich: Hold on. Let me get a pen. Can I take your name?

Jack: Yes, it’s Mauricio. M A U R I C I O

Rich: OK, Mauricio. What’s the message?

Jack: Tell him it was a great goal on Saturday and to give me a call.

Rich: Alright, can I take your number?

Jack: Of course, it’s 692341234.

Rich: I’ll make sure he gets your message. Bye.

Sting

Jack: In this conversation, you heard three examples of phrases with take: take your number, take your name and take a message.

Rich: All of these phrases are connected to writing. We write or take down a telephone number, name and message.

Jack: There are other common phrases such as take notes or take an order that have the same meaning.

Rich: Let’s move on to conversation two.

Sting

Jack: What are you going to do today? I’m bored.

Rich: I’m working, you’re on holiday. There are loads of things you could do. Why don’t you take a walk in the park?

Jack: That’s a bit boring.

Rich: Mmm … you like taking photos why don’t you take your camera.

Jack: Maybe …

Rich: That new arcade is open in town. Why don’t you go and take a look? You could take some great shots, there. It’s a very nice day.

Jack: I do like taking pictures. Maybe I’ll do that, cheers.

Sting

Rich: In this conversation, you heard take a walk, take a photo, take a shot and take a picture. All of these mean something similar to do.

Jack: There are lots of similar phrases or collocations that have this meaning that are a bit more difficult.

Rich: You can take a risk, take a test or an exam and lots of the words we looked at about football are in this category too.

Jack: Yes, like take a penalty, take a corner, or take a free-kick.

Rich: Let’s move on to conversation three.

Sting

Jack: How do you usually get to work, Rich?

Rich: I usually take the car.

Jack: Why don’t you take public transport?

Rich: I could take the bus I suppose, but it takes ages.

Jack: How long does it take?

Rich: It takes about an hour but it only takes 20 minutes in the car.

Sting

Jack: In this conversation, you heard take public transport, take ages, take the bus, it takes 20 minutes and how long does it take.

Rich: There are two meanings here. The first is connected to time. Things take time. A journey takes 20 minutes or it takes a long time or ages. I take ages getting ready in the morning because I have to do my hair!

Jack: The other meaning is get. You take the bus or take the train or plane. It’s very common to use take with public transport.

Rich: And you can also say I take the car to work but you can’t say I get the car to work.

Jack: Let’s move on to conversation four. Let’s look at some more challenging phrases now.

Sting

Rich: I took my car to the car wash and they can’t get all those post-it notes off. They are stuck solid to the car. They’re going to have to take the windows out and replace them.

Jack: Er ... it was just a joke.

Rich: And they’re going to charge me £300. They don’t take credit cards either and won’t give me my car back until it’s paid.

Jack: I can’t take the blame for that!

Rich: To be honest, Jack I think you should take full responsibility. And, don’t take this the wrong way but if you don’t get my car back or pay that money now, I’ll have to think about taking you to court?

Jack: Taking me to court?

Rich: Look at your face! Who can’t take a joke now, hey?

Sting

Jack: In this conversation, you heard take credit cards, take the blame, take responsibility and take a joke. All of these mean accept.

Rich: The last one to take a joke could also mean to understand although it is more common to say I don’t get a joke when you don’t understand it.

Jack: The phrase don’t take this the wrong way means don’t misunderstand me. There was also another phrase with take. To take someone to court.

Rich: This means to take legal action against someone. Right, in our final conversation we’re going to look at some more phrases with take.

Jack: And this time we’re not going to tell you what they mean. We’ve got a little task for you to do.

Rich: Listen to the conversation and write down the phrases with take you hear. How many are there? Think about the conversation. What do the phrases mean?

Jack: So, what phrases with take do you hear and what do they mean? Tell us your answers in the comments at the bottom of the page.

Sting

Jack: We’re thinking of getting a dog.

Rich: Really? A puppy? It’ll take over your life! Taking it out for walks, feeding it, you won’t be able to take trips away without taking it with you. You can’t take it back once you’ve got it, you know.

Jack: You’re not really a dog person are you. The kids would love a puppy, but I think it would be nicer to take one in.

Rich: From a rescue centre or something?

Jack: Exactly.

Rich: A good idea, but you have to take all kinds of things into account; has it had all its injections, what were its old owners like, will it take to the kids?

Jack: You’re really not a dog person are you?

Football phrase

Rich: Have you got a football phrase for us this week?

Jack: Yes, I have, but first, last week’s football phrase. The phrase was hoodoo. This is a strange phrase that comes from a term that describes a form of West African spirituality. I’m not sure how it made it into football English, but it is used to describe a sort of spell which stops a team from winning against a rival or at a particular ground. Last week, Spurs won at Chelsea for the first time in the Premier League and ended their Chelsea hoodoo.

Rich: It was a difficult one. Well done to Kwesimanifest from Ghana, Sabanoleg and Liubomyr from Ukraine, and Lakerwang from China. What’s this week’s phrase, Jack?

Jack: This week’s football phrase is a ******** or to stage or make a ********. This phrase is really just one word but it’s a compound noun and it means to win from a losing position. Manchester Utd staged a great ******** when they turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win against Manchester City last week.

Rich: I’ve got it! Right, that’s all we have time for this week! Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below.

Jack: If you have enjoyed this podcast or found it useful, leave us a rating or review and that will help other people find us.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football!

How much did you understand?

In the podcast, Rich and Jack used some words and phrases that might be new for you. Do you know the words in bold?

Someone's stuck loads of stuff on my car.

You just wait. I'll get my own back!

There were a few more tricky words in the podcast. Do you know what they all mean? Try the activity below, then, listen to the podcast again to hear how we used the words.

Activity 1: In this activity, try to match the words and phrases to their definitions. All of the words were in this week's podcast.

Harry Kane takes a penalty. Can you think of any other football phrases with 'take'?

Phrases with take

In this week's podcast, Jack and Rich spoke about the word take. Did you know that it had lots of different meanings? They discussed five of the most common meanings of take:

To write

We can use phrases such as take something down, take a message and take notes to talk about writing something. Take a look at these examples from the podcast:

Harry's not here at the moment. Could I take a message?

Hold on. Let me get a pen. Can I take your name?

To do

We can use phrases such as take a shower, take a walk and to take a chance to talk about doing something. Take a look at these examples from the podcast:

Why don't you take a walk in the park? You like taking photos - why don't you take your camera?

That new arcade is open in town. Why don't you take a look? You could take some great shots there.

To talk about the length of time

We can use phrases such as I'll just take a minute, it'll take a while and it takes about an hour to talk about duration of time or how long something lasts. Take a look at these examples from the podcast:

I could take the bus, but it takes ages.

How long does it take?

It takes about an hour but it only takes 20 minutes in the car.

To talk about using transport

It is very common to use phrases such as take the bus or take the train when we talk about transport. It's important to remember that you can also get or catch a bus but you can't get or catch the car although you can take the car!

How do you get to work?

I usually take the car.

To accept

We also use take in phrases such as take the blame, take a joke, or take responsibility to mean accept. Here are some examples from the podcast:

They don't take credit cards.

You should take full responsibility.

In the activity below, take a look at some sentences that use phrases with take and decide which of the above five meanings are being used.

Activity 2: In this activity, look again at the five meanings of take which were introduced in the podcast. Match the phrases with take to the five meanings.

Our top 10 phrases with 'take'

Take is a very common word and there are hundreds of collocations and phrases that use it. We've looked at lots of phrases with take in this podcast. Some of them are very common and very useful for your everyday English. Here are our top 10 phrases with take that we think are most useful for you to know:

How long will it take?
See you soon. Take care!
Thanks. I'll take a look at it later.
This is going to take ages if we don't hurry up!
Are you going to take the car?
I take after my dad.
If it's not very good you can always take it back to the shop.
Could I take your order, please?
Eat in or take away?
I hate penalty shootouts! Who's going to take ours?

Do you know all of these phrases? When might you use or hear these phrases?

Noticing new language in context

This week's task is to listen to conversation five again. Jack is telling Rich that he is thinking of getting a dog. In the conversation, they used lots of phrases that included take. We want you to listen and write down the phrases and think about what they mean in the context of this conversation. If this is difficult, use the transcript to help. Is listening in this way a good way to learn new words and phrases? Do you understand all the phrases? Tell us what they mean in the comments section below or, even better, use some of the phrases in a different context!

Jack wants to TAKE IN a dog but Rich thinks it will TAKE OVER his life. What do these phrases mean?

Quiz

What do you think?

In this week’s podcast, Jack played a practical joke on Rich and they spoke about phrases with take.

Have you ever played a practical joke on anyone? Did they take the joke well or did they take it the wrong way?

How do you get to work or school? How long does it take? Can you think of something that takes you ages?

You take a penalty. Can you think of any other football phrases with 'take'?

Look at the task above and listen to Jack and RIch talking about getting a dog. Write your answers below.

Remember to write your guess at this week's football phrase, too!