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China flagClaudio
bring and take I was discussing the sentences below (as it happens, with my English teacher) and I came across the following problem of meaning (person A is speaking to person B): "It's John's birthday tomorrow, I will take him a nice gift" "It's John's birthday tomorrow, I will bring him a nice gift" It seems to me that in the first case, the person speaking (person A) is giving the impression that he will go alone to see John, whereas in the second sentence, it is implied that person A will be going to see John along with person B..... I would be grateful if anyone can either confirm that they also interpret the sentences in this way, or else confirm that I have invented shades of meaning that do not actually exist ! Thanks very much. Reply With Quote

Answers · 1

1
Hello Claudio, Actually your suggestion is not correct. "It's John's birthday tomorrow, I will take him a nice gift" This doesn't apply that Person A is going alone to John's Birthday , he could be going alone, with Person B or any other person. "It's John's birthday tomorrow, I will bring him a nice gift" This doesn't mean also that Person A is going with Person B to John's Birthday, he could be going alone ,with Person B or with someone else as well. Using verbs "to bring" and "to take" alternatively in those examples don't refer in any way to Person's A company. "Bring" means to 'take' something or somebody with oneself, in this example Person A is taking a gift . When using "take" it implies as well picking out, selecting or choosing * a gift here* from a number of alternatives. So both "take" and "bring" are basically interchangeable in this example .

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