Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Today's topic is bring versus take. Sharmaine grammar Okay, I was at a hospital. I told my girlfriend that I was going to pick my son up and take him back to the hospital. Remember I was leaving the hospital to pick my son up. Was that incorrect. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=19697#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=19697#Comments Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:04:42 GMT Wintress Odom grammar I just answered this question on Facebook, using a lot of the info I found here. Great post! Here's the explanation I came up with... The usage of bring vs. take depends on where you are. You "take baby wipes with you" to the store, because you are at the house and you are going to go to the store. Just remember "take out" food, not "bring out" food. That's because you are at the restaurant, taking the food home. Now, if your wife is already at the store, she would say "bring the baby wipes with you to the store," because she is at the store and you are bringing the baby wipes to her. The distinction is most important when it actually changes the meaning of the sentence. For example: Your friend can say "Bring the purse to my house," or she can say "Take the purse to my house." In the first, your friend is at her house. You are bringing the purse TO her. In the second, your friend isn't at her house. Just remember: You take a thing over there. But if you are over there, you bring it here. ... Read More Take => there. Bring => here. If you get confused, I find the easiest thing is add the words "over there" or "here" in front of the place. Then you'll usually get it right. So...for example, if you can't remember whether to say "I'm bringing the sunscreen to the beach," or "I'm taking the sunscreen to the beach," insert "over there" in front of the beach. Most people naturally hear that "I'm taking the sunscreen over there, to the beach." sounds a little better than, "I'm bringing the sunscreen over there, to the beach." If you aren't at either place, and the direction of movement is irrelavant, you can usually use either. So, "Mary took the book to the store," or "Mary brought the book to the store," are both OK. Unless of course you were AT the store, in which case you could add "here" before the store, and you'd say "Mary brought the book here, to the store." NOT "Mary took the book here, to the store." The only thing I'm still unclear on, is the question everyone keeps coming up with on the "Bring the chips to the party." Is it OK to say "I'll bring the chips to the party?" because you're planning on "there, the party" being "here, the party" or should you technically say "I'll take the chips to the party?" because you aren't there yet? Grammar girl? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=19673#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=19673#Comments Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:57:52 GMT rob grammar From my point of view - and yes, I am aware of the potential puns available - the discussion is about more than ignorance or laziness. It's about the fact that a useful distinction has been lost to the language. It irks the grammarian in me when someone says "bring" when they mean "take". But it confuses me when someone asks me to "bring the (whatever)" when we're standing beside each other. I have to stop and think about what they've said, and then try to guess what they meant. Are they asking me to go and get something, and bring it to them, or are they asking me to take something from them and carry it somewhere else? With the modern usage of "bring" for both meanings, you can't tell. Keeping the two separate words for the separate concepts, there is no ambiguity. "Bring the (whatever)" means one thing, while "Take the (whatever)" means another. So here's the selfish point of view. If all those other people would ues language correctly, it would be easier on me. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=19366#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=19366#Comments Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:25:12 GMT Tina grammar Ok. So now I'm really feeling foolish. For the majority of my life I have been using bring and take correctly. After hearing so many people whom I work with use it incorrectly, I began to use incorrectly too thinking I was messed up in the first place. Thanks for taking me back to using proper English. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=19284#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=19284#Comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:49:58 GMT dmh grammar Yeah, people's lack of ability to correctly speak really irks me. I've had my boss say "Bring this over there" when we were standing side my side. I had one customer say, "I don't want my receipt, I don't think I'll take any of this back." I've heard bring used wrong in a lot of tv. I think it may be a California thing, because almost all tv and movies are screwing up this distinction lately. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=17347#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=17347#Comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:06:03 GMT BK grammar Thank you for addressing this; it has become such a pet peeve of mine. I frequently hear the incorrect usage on television. I even said something to a college professor about it and after listening to his garbled response wondered if *he* even knew the difference. That would certainly explain a lot! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=17319#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=17319#Comments Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:07:04 GMT Laurie Mikuta grammar I'm so glad to see the pp say something about Dora the Explorer and her incorrect use of bring and take. I was watching an episode today with my daughter and was annoyed to hear Dora repeatedly asking "Will you help me BRING the baby duck back to his mommy?" She said this, or some variation of this phrase, over and over. No wonder children are confused (and adults, too). http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=17311#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=17311#Comments Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:53:26 GMT frustrated mom grammar I am so glad I found this post. I thought I was losing my mind. I have two preschool age children who love Dora the Explorer. In every episode, Dora uses 'bring' and 'take' incorrectly. It is so frustrating! Why do the programmers not catch this error? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=16942#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=16942#Comments Tue, 12 May 2009 18:10:45 GMT vita grammar now i have a problem about to make the difference between bring and carry. would you like to help me please ?. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=15792#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=15792#Comments Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:19:22 GMT Manju grammar Craig, You're right. If you say Dave is coming to Ted's house - it would be, he is bringing the turkey. If he's going to his house he is taking it there. Correct me if I'm wrong, Grammar Girl. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=15661#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx?commentid=15661#Comments Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:40:51 GMT Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:04:42 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/bring-versus-take.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us