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Post by JerryMann on Feb 24, 2009 15:49:30 GMT
Distinctions seem to be disappearing. Nearly everyone on TV now says they will "bring" something to a distant place. The rule I was taught is "Take when you go, bring when you come." Also, the term "comprised of" is ungrammatical; something is either "composed of" or "comprises."
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Post by Pete on Feb 24, 2009 16:43:44 GMT
Distinctions seem to be disappearing. Nearly everyone on TV now says they will "bring" something to a distant place. The rule I was taught is "Take when you go, bring when you come." Also, the term "comprised of" is ungrammatical; something is either "composed of" or "comprises." Absolutely right, on both counts.  |
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Post by Alan Palmer on Feb 24, 2009 19:00:19 GMT
I've never heard of the distinction between "take" and "bring" before. Should a "bring and buy sale", therefore, be more correctly known as a "take and buy sale"?
I agree, though, regarding "comprised of". That sets my teeth on edge.
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Post by Pete on Feb 24, 2009 19:31:10 GMT
Should a "bring and buy sale", therefore, be more correctly known as a "take and buy sale"? No, because you are supposed to bring something (wih you) to the sale, then buy something that you take away. I suppose you might say, while at the sale, that you have brought and bought. And when you get home you can say you took and bought!  |
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Post by Alan Palmer on Feb 24, 2009 23:24:49 GMT
Yeah, but that's the exact opposite of JerryMann's post. According to that, you should take something (with you) to the sale, then buy something that you bring back home.
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Post by Sue M-V on Feb 25, 2009 0:05:39 GMT
Alan, it all depends on where you are when you say it, as Pete suggests! I have to explain this three times a day to my students, to whom it is not at all obvious.
You can take something home if you're not at home when you say it. Once you're home, you'd say what you'd brought!
I group the words together like this:
bring - come - here
take - go - there
First you have to define "here" and "there": basically, "here" is where I am now, and "there" is where I am not! (I usually have to demonstrate this by leaping about a bit!) I can only come here since "come" refers to movement to "here"; movement to "there" is "go". Do you agree so far?
"Bring" is what you do with things when you come here with them, and "take" is what you do when you remove them to another place. So you say: "Will you take this book back to the library for me, and bring me a new one by the same author?" You have to know whether you're coming or going!
This all worked fine till some clot invented the telephone and complicated the issue. It is supposed that when you are talking to a person, they are here with you, but the phone has made alternatives possible! So when on the phone, our brains are somehow programmed to regard the person with whom we are talking as being here with us. (I actually feel this, when I'm having long chats to people in other countries - I feel that they are with me in some sense.)
Anyway, with phone conversations, you might get the following sorts of dialogue:
Scene: Pat's house. Pat is talking on the phone
Pat: When you come to my party next week, will you remember to bring your new CD?
Dee: Of course! I can bring several if you like. ... [Hangs up receiver.]
Pat: That's good, Dee is going to bring her CDs.
Scene: Dee's flat
Dee: Chris, will you remind me to take my CDs when I go to Pat's party?
[Scene: Pat's house, the following week]
Dee: Here you are, Pat - I've brought my CDs, as you asked.
[Scene: Dee's flat, after the party]
Dee: Hi, Chris! I'm home! Pat was delighted that I took my CDs.
Well, I suppose you get it now!
I think the "bring" for "take" phenomenon is originally trans-Atlantic, and is due to the same sort of problems my students have with the difference. It's caused by a similar kind of misunderstanding as that which results in the use of "convince" for "persuade", I think.
Sue
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Post by Dr Mildr on Feb 25, 2009 18:40:10 GMT
I used to work with an Irish girl who always used these in a different way from the more usual (English) way. Perhaps, as Sue points out, if the "bring" for "take" phenomenon is originally trans-Atlantic, and given the Irsh influence in the US, the confusion originated much nearer home (to us Brits) than we are suggesting?
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Post by Sue M-V on Feb 25, 2009 18:43:52 GMT
Interesting idea, Mildr! How can we find out?
Sue
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Post by Tone on Feb 27, 2009 21:32:19 GMT
Ah, but my boss, who hails from Wick in Scotland, also uses the "opposite way from English" application of "bring" and "take".
So, it's not just Irish or trans-Atlantic.
[An aside -- should that be "opposite way from English" or "opposite way to English"?
Please don't answer here -- I've put that question in it's own thread.]
Tone
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Post by Paul Doherty on Mar 3, 2009 21:16:24 GMT
I've put that question in it's own thread. , Tone?  |
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