Do you use light verbs? If you so, how?
I'm studying light verbs like do, take, have, give, make and so on and "light verb + (a) + verb" constructions. I'd like to know how native speakers use them.
So please give me some example sentences which you use in daily life :
I had a drink. /Take a closer look. /Let's have a break....
Also please comment something about light verbs. Which do you prefer to use "have" or "take"? Why do you say "have a look" instead of "look"? Anything! Please tell me your ideas.
thank you
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 6
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Sometimes, "have" and "take" when used as delexical verb or light verbs (I'd not seen this term before!), are interchangeable. "have/ take a bath, shower, break". From my experience, British people use "have" more and American people use "take" more, though this is a question of preference rather than rule.
Other idiomatic expressions are fixed, and you must learn the correct verb e.g.
have fun
take charge of
have a laugh
take someone by surprise
There must be hundreds!
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I have also never heard the term "light verbs" before! Anyway, there are hundreds of expressions that work this way.
We can say "take a shower" or "have a shower" , "take/have a break" , "take/have a look" , but we only say "have fun" and "have a laugh" but never TAKE. These are idioms and it is useful to use a dictionary to check which verbs are usually used.
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