The more phrases you know, the better you will be able to speak naturally in English. Here we have “To Take – 18 Phrases in English” to show you how many phrases you can use with “take”. Remember to write the phrases down in a notebook or on flashcards to help you memorise them. Practice them frequently by putting them into sentences and speaking to colleagues. If you make a mistake, don’t worry! This is part of the learning process.
If you want to learn even more phrases to sound confident and natural in English, you should try our English school. Sign up now with the form below:
Join Our School
To take advantage
To take advantage of someone or something is to make a situation into a very good one. Taking advantage of someone can be a bad thing if you do so in an unfair manner. For example, if someone is too kind, it is possible that people will try to take advantage of them.
Example: “If you have an opportunity to grow, you should always take advantage of it.”
To take the Mickey
To take the Mickey is a very colloquial way to describe making fun of someone in British English. When you take the Mickey out of someone, you try to make fun of them in a funny way. This is not abuse, but usually joking about a friend.
Example: “Your friends are always taking the Mickey out of our football team.”
To take it on the chin
To take something on the chin is when you receive some news or a setback, but you don’t let it affect you too badly. Taking something on the chin is being brave when bad things happen. This is an admirable quality to have as a human being.
Example: “I know that you didn’t get the job, but you have to take it on the chin and move onto the next opportunity.”
To take it out on someone
To take something out on someone is when you are angry and you act in a bad way towards somebody else because of it. It could be that this person is not involved in the situation at all and the anger could be very unfair. You should be careful not to take things out on people that do not deserve the aggression.
Example: “When he is in a bad mood, he always takes it out on Sarah.”
To take someone for a ride
To take someone for a ride is to cheat or take advantage of somebody in a bad way. If you take someone for a ride it means that you are lying to them to make sure good things continue to happen to you. This can happen in many ways, most commonly though, it would be making a promise to someone and not keeping that promise.
Example: “I thought he was going to help me, but he was just taking me for a ride.”
To take it easy
To take it easy means to relax. If you take it easy, you might be able to do something similar to the picture and sit down with a nice relaxing cup of tea. Someone might tell you to take it easy if you are working too hard or getting stressed about something. Sometimes it is good to listen to them and take some time off!
Example: “You have to take it easy, you work 60 hours every week!”
To take it well
To take something well means that when receiving bad news, you or the person receiving the news remains confident and doesn’t get too upset. This is a very welcome reception when you have to give someone bad news.
Example: “I had to tell him he was fired. He took it well though which was a relief.”
To take a break
To take a break is to spend a short amount of time relaxing after doing some work or completing a difficult task. It is important to take regular breaks when working as it can refresh your brain and keep you fresh. During a break, some people choose to have a coffee or a cup of tea and something small to eat.
Example: “I think we should take a break. We have been working for six hours now.”
To take offence
To take offence to something is to be hurt by something that has been done or said. It is possible to take offence from something that is not meant to be offensive. If someone takes offence to something that you have said or done, it might be a good idea to apologise as soon as you can.
Example: “He took offence to a remark that was made during the meeting.”
To take a look
To take a look at someone or something is to examine or evaluate someone or something. If someone says that they will take a look at something for you, it means that they are committing time and effort to your project or your object. Taking a look at something is usually not a task that takes a long time. This is not a comprehensive examination.
Example: “You should go to the doctor’s so that they can take a look at your leg.”
To take a risk
To take a risk is to do something dangerous and perhaps even something that scares you. Taking a risk can be a good thing if it produces positive results but it is probably not a good idea to take risks in everything that you do.
Example: “The company is taking a risk with their new investment. We will see if it pays off in the long run.”
To take over
To take over is to get control of something. This could be in the context of a project, a team or even a company. When someone takes over it means that they become the leader of the situation. There can be some difficulties when someone takes over but it can also be a change for the better.
Example: “I’m taking over the project in June when Sally leaves the company.”
To take part
To take part in something is to be a participant or a competitor in an event or a process. Some people say that taking part in a competition is much more important than winning the competition. In fact, there is a phrase in English which states: “It’s not the winning, but it’s the taking part that counts.”
Example: “John took part in the discussion and contributed some very useful ideas.”
To take turns
This one is normally used to talk about a game or a competition. When people take turns, it means that they wait for another person to complete their effort or their task before trying to participate. When playing a board game, you take turns throwing dice and playing the game.
Example: “Try to take turns speaking, otherwise we can’t hear what you are trying to say.”
To take something into account
To take something into account is to listen carefully to someone and consider their opinion. When you take something into account, you make sure that the ideas are added into your plan. It is possible to take someone’s views into account and then not implement them, but they must be considered.
Example: “My input was not taken into account at all and that’s why the project failed.”
To take someone seriously
To take someone seriously is to give respect to someone. If you can’t take someone seriously, it means that they are not very professional or not a very respectable person. It is very common to hear the phrase “I couldn’t take them seriously”.
Example: “He took the judge very seriously when the sentence was read.”
To take photos
Quite simply, to take photos is to use a camera to record images. Be careful to get this verb right because in other languages it is common to see this in a different way.
Example: “He went out to take photos of the animals”
To take on someone
To take on someone is another one related to competition. If you take on someone or take someone on, you challenge them or accept their challenge. As you can see in the picture, the red boxer is taking on the blue boxer.
Example: “The young man took on the older man in a match”
So, there you have it! 18 phrases using to take in English. Check out our online school to learn real English for the real world.
