When to use bring vs. take

What do “bring” and “take” mean?

The verbs “bring” and “take” have nearly the same definition. However, there’s an important distinction between the two. Using them incorrectly can make your writing sound awkward and clumsy. Both words refer to something or someone changing its location with the aid of another person. The difference between “bring” and “take” has to do with direction and it’s important not to confuse the two words in your writing. If you’re moving something to a person, you should always use “bring.” On the other hand, use “take” when moving something away from a person.

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If someone asked you for a glass of water, you would bring it to them. After they’d finished drinking, you would take the glass away. Switching these two verbs would make the actions nonsensical; you can’t “take” something away when you’re trying to give it to someone.

How to use “bring” and “take” in a sentence

If you’re still not sure how to use “take” and “bring” in a sentence, take a look at how the verbs function in these example sentences. When used in the past tense, the word “bring” becomes “brought” and the word “take” becomes “took.”

• I asked her to bring an appetizer to the dinner party.
• She took her dog home from the park after the sun went down.
• Harry brought his goggles to practice, but forgot his swim cap.
• You shouldn’t take more condiments than you need.

As you can see from these examples, you usually can’t use these two verbs interchangeably, even though they have similar meanings. In the last sentence, changing “take” to “bring” would make the sentence confusing: “You shouldn’t bring more condiments than you need” doesn’t clearly describe the action at hand.

In some cases, you might be able to use these verbs in the same way, with some slight tweaking. While you might “bring” an appetizer with you to a dinner party, you could also “take” an appetizer from your home to the party. In this example, “take” describes the action of removing an item, the appetizer, from a location, your home. Even without adding the words “from your home,” to the sentence, the implied second location makes this sentence grammatically correct. When it comes to words like “take” and “bring,” perspective matters.

What about “come” vs. “go”?

The words “come” and “go” are two other verbs that represent movement and can’t be used interchangeably in most cases. These two words are often used in the same sentence as “bring” and “take,” but they have different meanings. While “bring” and “take” refer to an object or person being moved by another person, “come” and “go” should be used to describe a person’s own movement. For example, you would “go” to the store and “bring” home groceries. Whether you’re working on a research paper for school or sending emails to colleagues, following correct spelling and grammar rules will help set your writing apart.