These questions ask you to select the take expression that matches a particular change, such as beginning an activity, gaining control, understanding information or removing something. Read for the result first, because several forms can be grammatical in the same sentence pattern.
Name the change before choosing the particle
Reduce the situation to one precise action: depart, begin, control, resemble, understand, remove, return, accept, disassemble, record, subtract or like. Match that action to a complete phrasal verb. For separable forms, a pronoun goes between take and the particle, while a full noun can usually go between them or follow the particle. Take after and take to are inseparable, and the plane meaning of take off has no object.
| Meaning family | Signal to form |
|---|---|
| Departure, beginnings and control | A plane leaves the ground: take off. Begin a hobby or activity: take up. Assume control: take over. Accept work or responsibility: take on. |
| Relationship and understanding | Resemble an older relative: take after. Begin to like someone or something: take to. Fully understand or absorb information: take in. |
| Physical actions and records | Remove: take out. Return a purchase: take back. Disassemble: take apart. Write information quickly: take down. |
| Removal and arithmetic | Take away can mean remove something; with numbers, it means subtract. |
Use one short example per family. The evening flight took off on time shows departure. Kim took on a new duty shows responsibility. Leo takes after his uncle shows family resemblance. We took the old shelf apart shows disassembly.
Separate the tempting near meanings
| Tempting confusion | How to decide |
|---|---|
| Take over versus take on | Take over changes who controls something. Take on adds work, a client or a responsibility without necessarily giving control. |
| Take after versus take to | Take after compares a person with an older relative. Take to describes the beginning of a favourable feeling. |
| Take back versus take apart | Take back moves a purchase to its seller or withdraws words. It does not mean opening an object into its components. |
| Take down versus take apart | Take down may remove an intact item from a wall or display, or record information. Take apart dismantles the item. |
Finish with two checks. Confirm that the result matches the precise meaning, then check placement. With a separable expression, keep a pronoun between take and the particle; with take after or take to, keep the expression intact before its object.
Try it
Priya wants to start pottery as a new hobby. Complete with the correct phrasal verb based on take: She decided to ___ pottery after finding a local class.
The lecture introduced five unfamiliar theories at once, and I could not fully understand them. Which phrasal verb specifically means fully understand or absorb the material? It was too much information to ___.
- take it all apart
- take it all down
- take it all in
- take it all away
A game starts with 18 tokens, and the referee removes 5. Which instruction uses a take phrasal verb to state the subtraction?
- Take out five red tokens and place them in a bag.
- Take apart the model made of eighteen pieces.
- Take five borrowed tokens back.
- Take away 5 from 18 to obtain 13.