Collocations with take are common English word combinations in which take appears with particular nouns or other words. Examples include take a break, take notes, take responsibility for, and take part in.
The meaning of take changes with the expression. Take a photograph means capture an image, while take responsibility means accept a duty or acknowledge responsibility for something.
Many are straightforward verb + noun combinations. Others are longer expressions with particular prepositions or less predictable meanings. For instance, we take pride in our work, take advantage of an opportunity, and take something into account when making a decision.
Common Collocations with Take and Example Sentences
These 40 expressions cover everyday activities, work, travel, decisions, and relationships. Where a particular preposition is important, the complete pattern is shown.
Everyday Activities
| Collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Take a break | After reviewing the drawings for two hours, Elena took a short break. |
| Take a shower | Marcus took a shower after cycling home through the rain. |
| Take a nap | The children took a nap during the afternoon at their grandparents’ house. |
| Take a walk | Grace likes to take a walk along the river on Sunday evenings. |
| Take a seat | The receptionist invited the visitors to take a seat while she checked their appointments. |
Travel and Movement
| Collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Take a train | Rather than drive through the city, Ethan took a train to the conference. |
| Take a taxi | Because the last bus had already left, Nina took a taxi to her hotel. |
| Take a shortcut | Oliver took a shortcut through the park and arrived before the gates closed. |
| Take a wrong turn | We took a wrong turn outside the village and ended up on a narrow farm road. |
| Take a photograph of something | Nora took a photograph of the sunrise from her bedroom window. |
Work and Study
| Collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Take notes | Maya took notes during the interview so she could check the details later. |
| Take an exam | Leo took his final exam the morning after returning from the competition. |
| Take a course | Hannah took a course in digital illustration to improve her portfolio. |
| Take a message | As the manager was unavailable, the assistant offered to take a message. |
| Take a call | Priya stepped outside the restaurant to take a call from her client. |
Decisions and Opportunities
| Collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Take a risk | Daniel took a risk by leaving a secure job to open a repair shop. |
| Take a chance | When an unexpected audition became available, Sophie decided to take a chance. |
| Take action | The landlord took action after several tenants reported the broken entrance lock. |
| Take steps to do something | The school took steps to improve access for pupils with mobility difficulties. |
| Take something into account | The hiring panel took each applicant’s experience into account before making its decision. |
Responsibility and Recognition
| Collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Take responsibility for something | Lucas took responsibility for resolving the booking problem. |
| Take charge of something | Rebecca took charge of the afternoon shift when the team leader became ill. |
| Take control of something | The pilot took control of the aircraft after the trainee reported a warning light. |
| Take the blame for something | Although the instructions were unclear, Noah took the blame for the failed installation. |
| Take credit for something | After the fundraiser succeeded, the organiser refused to take all the credit for its success. |
Attention and Involvement
| Collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Take notice of something | The council finally took notice of residents’ complaints about the crossing. |
| Take an interest in something | Julia took an interest in furniture restoration after helping in her uncle’s workshop. |
| Take part in something | More than eighty neighbours took part in the community clean-up. |
| Take pride in something | The baker took pride in producing every loaf by hand. |
| Take advantage of something | Several families took advantage of the reduced admission prices during the festival. |
Time and Care
| Collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Take time | Repairing the old clock took time because several replacement parts had to be made. |
| Take your time | The instructor told the beginners to take their time while learning the movements. |
| Take time off | Jasmine took time off work to attend her sister’s graduation. |
| Take care of someone or something | During the relocation, the volunteers took care of the library’s rare books. |
| Take precautions | Before setting off on the hike, the group took precautions to avoid dehydration. |
Events and Responses
| Collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Take place | The award ceremony took place in the town’s newly restored theatre. |
| Take effect | The revised parking arrangements took effect at the beginning of September. |
| Take something seriously | The landlord took the tenants’ concerns seriously and arranged an inspection. |
| Take a look at something | The mechanic agreed to take a look at the car before recommending repairs. |
| Take turns | The siblings took turns looking after their grandmother’s dog during the holidays. |
Two expressions in the final group have meanings worth recognising separately.
Take place means happen or occur. An event takes place at a particular time or location.
Take effect means begin to operate, apply, or produce a result. A new rule can take effect on Monday, while medicine may take effect after a short period.
How the Meaning Changes in Collocations with Take
Some expressions with take overlap in meaning. Others describe different aspects of the same situation.
Take Responsibility, Take Charge, or Take the Blame?
Imagine that a hotel has received complaints about incorrect room reservations.
The manager took responsibility for resolving the problem.
Rebecca took charge of the team handling the complaints.
The employee who entered the incorrect dates took the blame for the booking errors.
Take responsibility for can mean accepting a duty or acknowledging responsibility for an action or result.
Take charge of means assuming control or leadership.
Take the blame for means accepting fault or criticism for something that went wrong.
Someone can take responsibility for resolving a problem without having caused it. Taking charge describes who leads the response.
A related expression is take credit for something, which concerns claiming or accepting recognition for an achievement.
Rebecca thanked the whole team rather than taking all the credit for solving the problem.
Here, credit concerns praise, not responsibility for a failure.
Take a Risk or Take a Chance?
Both expressions describe acting when the outcome is uncertain.
When a small publishing company offered Oliver his first editing job, he took a chance and accepted it.
Leaving his established position meant taking a risk, because the new company was still struggling financially.
Take a chance often emphasises trying something despite uncertainty.
Take a risk tends to draw more attention to what might go wrong.
The meanings overlap, and the same decision can be described using either expression depending on the emphasis.
Take Time, Take Your Time, or Take the Time To?
A small change in wording can produce a different meaning.
Restoring the damaged photographs will take time.
This means the work will require a period of time.
Take your time examining the photographs. There’s no need to finish today.
Here, the speaker is encouraging someone not to hurry.
Now compare:
Daniel took the time to explain the new system to every member of the team.
Take the time to do something emphasises deliberately spending time on an activity, often showing care or effort.
Take Action or Take Steps?
Both expressions can describe responding to a situation.
After several complaints, the school took action to improve safety.
It took steps to improve lighting near the entrances and review visitor procedures.
Take action broadly describes doing something about a situation. Take steps is often useful when referring to particular measures taken toward a result.
Take Part In or Take Place?
These expressions are easy to confuse, but their meanings are different.
The charity concert took place on Saturday evening.
More than fifty local musicians took part in the concert.
Take place means happen or occur.
Take part in means participate in an event or activity.
The concert took place; the musicians took part in it.
The grammar also differs. We say take part in something, but an event simply takes place, possibly followed by information about when or where it happened.
Take Advantage Of: Opportunity or Exploitation?
The meaning of take advantage of changes according to the situation and the person or thing that follows it.
The students took advantage of the free language workshops at the library.
Here, the expression means making good use of an opportunity.
Now consider:
The dishonest seller took advantage of an inexperienced customer by charging an unreasonable fee.
In this sentence, it means exploiting someone unfairly for personal benefit.
The first use is positive or neutral. The second has a negative meaning.
Get Advice or Take Someone’s Advice?
Suppose Emma is planning to buy her first home.
Emma got advice from a mortgage adviser before comparing the available loans.
Emma took the adviser’s advice and checked the additional fees before applying.
Get advice focuses on receiving guidance.
Take someone’s advice usually means following that person’s recommendation.
Emma could get advice and decide not to follow it.
However, take advice from someone can also mean consulting that person or seeking professional guidance.
Before signing the agreement, Emma took advice from an independent solicitor.
That sentence does not necessarily tell us whether she followed every recommendation.
Using Collocations with Take Correctly
Many familiar expressions with take need particular prepositions or word orders. Learning the full pattern is more useful than remembering the verb and noun separately.
Prepositions in Complete Take Expressions
Compare these examples:
Incorrect: The students took part of the exhibition.
Correct: The students took part in the exhibition.
The expression is take part in something.
Similarly:
Marcus takes pride in repairing old furniture.
The contractor took responsibility for replacing the damaged gate.
The visitors took advantage of the free guided tour.
The prepositions in, for, and of belong to the intended constructions.
A preposition may also be followed by an -ing form:
Several students took part in organising the exhibition.
The contractor took responsibility for replacing the damaged gate.
The complete patterns help explain why organising and replacing are natural here.
Where Does the Object Go in Take Into Account?
Take something into account means consider a fact or circumstance when making a decision or judgment.
The hiring panel took the applicant’s previous experience into account.
The object, the applicant’s previous experience, appears between took and into account.
The expression also allows another arrangement:
The hiring panel took into account the applicant’s previous experience.
Both constructions are accepted.
When the object is a pronoun such as it, the natural arrangement is:
The hiring panel took it into account.
Not:
The hiring panel took into account it.
This is a useful reason to learn the expression as a complete pattern rather than simply memorising take into account.
Collocations with Take and Phrasal Verbs with Take
Expressions such as take notes, take precautions, and take a break combine take with nouns.
Phrasal verbs such as take off, take over, and take up involve particles and have their own meanings and grammatical patterns.
Some longer expressions, including take care of and take part in, may also be grouped as multi-word expressions by dictionaries. The categories are not always completely separate.
For more examples of these verb-and-particle constructions, see phrasal verbs with take.
Collocations with Take: Practice
Choose the expression that best fits each situation.
1. Repairing the damaged clock may require several weeks.
Which expression describes the duration?
A. Take your time
B. Take time
2. A hotel manager agrees to resolve a booking problem, even though another employee made the mistake.
Which expression best describes the manager accepting that duty?
A. Take responsibility for
B. Take the blame for
3. The concert happened on Friday, and several local choirs participated.
Complete the sentences:
The concert ______ on Friday. Several local choirs ______ it.
A. took part / took place in
B. took place / took part in
4. Maya asked a careers adviser for guidance and later followed the recommendation.
Which expression makes it clear that she acted on the recommendation?
A. Got advice
B. Took the adviser’s advice
5. Which sentence uses take advantage of to describe unfair treatment?
A. The visitors took advantage of the free museum tickets.
B. The employer took advantage of workers who did not understand their contracts.
6. The committee considered the additional travel costs before approving the plan.
Which sentence uses the natural pronoun position?
A. The committee took them into account.
B. The committee took into account them.
Answers and Explanations
| Question | Answer | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | B. Take time | It describes the period required to complete the repair. Take your time encourages someone not to rush. |
| 2 | A. Take responsibility for | The manager accepts a duty to resolve the problem. That does not necessarily mean accepting fault for causing it. |
| 3 | B | The concert took place, while the choirs took part in it. |
| 4 | B. Took the adviser’s advice | This indicates that Maya followed the recommendation, not merely received guidance. |
| 5 | B | The employer is exploiting the workers. The first sentence describes making use of an opportunity. |
| 6 | A | The pronoun appears between took and into account: took them into account. |
Each question tests a different meaning or grammatical pattern, rather than simply asking readers to memorise which nouns follow take.
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