'Bring' Versus 'Take'

Today's topic is "bring" versus "take." I’ll give you an overview of the basics, and then I’ll tell you about some interesting variations in Ireland and the southern United States.

A lot of listeners have asked me to talk about "bring" and "take" over the years. Here's a recent caller:

"Hi, Grammar Girl. This is Sue from Clive, Iowa, and I heard your recent podcast about 'borrow' and 'lend' and how people tend to get this confused, and it reminded me of something that may or may not be equivalent to that. Years ago, I was renting a room to a woman from France for the summer, and she was telling me about how a bunch of her co-workers were going go out to the lake and have a cookout and a picnic, and she said that one of her co-workers was going to bring her to the lake. And that just sounded wrong to me, but I couldn't really explain why. With 'borrow' and 'lend,' the person providing whatever it is is always the lender lending something, and the person receiving whatever that is is always the borrower or borrowing, but what about 'bring' and 'take'? I'm kind of confused. If I am going to give a ride to a party to a friend, am I bringing the friend to the party or am I taking the friend to the party? Love your show. Thanks a lot. Bye."

Thanks, Sue. I’ll start with the basics, and then get to why these words can be tricky.

What is the difference between 'bring' and 'take'?

Whether you use "bring" or "take" generally depends on your point of reference for the action. You ask people to bring things to the place you are, and you take things to the place you are going. As one listener named Simone put it, you bring things here and take things there.

You ask people to bring things to you, and you take things or people to other people or places. 

'Bring' or 'take' examples

You ask someone to bring you coffee, and you take the dog to the dog park. You ask people to bring you good news, and you take your camera to the beach.

You ask people to bring things to you, and you take things to other people.

For example, I could ask Aardvark to bring Squiggly to my house Friday. If Fenster later asks Aardvark to go fishing that day, Aardvark would decline with disappointment and say, "I’m sorry, I can’t do it. I promised to take Squiggly to Grammar Girl’s house Friday." 

Aardvark would always rather go fishing.

So, I am asking Aardvark to bring Squiggly because I am at the destination—my house...

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