bring vs take

[Tan Elaine]

Is there any difference between 'bring' and 'take'?

I'll take/bring you to the airport in my car or else you will be not be in time to catch the plane.

Can I use either word?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Pedroski]

There are sentences in which the two words 'take' and bring' are not interchangeable.

Bring me a newspaper when you come. You can't use take here.
Take down the curtains please, I want to wash them. You shouldn't use bring here.

But in your sentence, they can be used interchangeably. Bring seems to be descended from an old Proto Indo-European root *bher cf bear, meaning carry. So there you have your sense of carry! What is the past tense of bring? brung or brought?

 

[Rover_KE]

'I'll take you to the airport' is the only correct version in BE.

'Take' means to move somebody/something from here to somewhere else.

'Bring' means to move somebody/something from somewhere else to here.

Rover

 

[Jaskin]

hi,
please note I'm not a teacher nor a native speaker;

'I'll take you to the airport' is the only correct version in BE.

'Take' means to move somebody/something from here to somewhere else.

'Bring' means to move somebody/something from somewhere else to here.

Rover

so if I said the second sentence while being at the airport it would be correct ?

Cheers

 

[Pedroski]

Where'd you dig up those definitions?

"'Bring' means to move somebody/something from somewhere else to here." The following must be wrong then:

Please bring my jacket with you to Jane's party, I left it at your house last night. I'll see you there at 8.

Quick definitions Dept.: bring: verb: take something or somebody with oneself somewhere.

Search only UK web sites, look for "bring you to the airport". Or The Times, or The Guardian for 'bring to'. Or ask me: I'm English and I say 'I'll bring you (someone) to the airport (somewhere)'

These are all from UK sites.
....the taxibus to bring you to the airport.

.....from the Airport or to bring you to the Airport.

....then let us bring you to the airport.

The bus will collect participants at the hotels every 2 hours from 9:00 till 20.00 and will bring you to the airport. Please book your flight ......

 

[Jaskin]

hi,
Please note I'm not a teacher nor a native speaker;

I wouldn't consider what Rover_KE said as definitions but as good usage notes.
Bring movement towards the place of speaking;
Take movement away from the place of speaking;

Search only UK web sites, look for "bring you to the airport". Or The Times, or The Guardian for 'bring to'. Or ask me: I'm English and I say 'I'll bring you (someone) to the airport (somewhere)'

These are all from UK sites.
....the taxibus to bring you to the airport.

.....from the Airport or to bring you to the Airport.

....then let us bring you to the airport.

The bus will collect participants at the hotels every 2 hours from 9:00 till 20.00 and will bring you to the airport. Please book your flight ......

The examples you gave cover the grey area when the place of utterance isn't the same as the place towards/away from which the action takes place. So it's a matter of focus.

Cheers

 

[Pedroski]

Well, I think he is using an idiomatic definition which does not align with definitions found in dictionaries. Maybe a problem of dialects.
I don't have access to the OED, but here are some examples
Collins
vb (bringing, brought)
1. to carry, convey, or take (something or someone) to a designated place or person,
Wordsmyth
to take, lead, or carry toward the speaker or from one place to another.
Macmillan
to take someone or something from one place and have them with you when you arrive somewhere else (strange English for a dictionary)

Not at all grey!

 

[Jaskin]

hi,
ok let's have a look :
Wordsmyth at the very bottom of the page with definition of bring:

bring or take?
Bring usually means to carry something with you when you come to a place. Take usually means to carry something with you when you go from a place.
Compare:
Bring your notebook when you come to class.
Take your test papers when you go home.

macmillan
usage notes:

If you bring or take something, you hold it and go with it to another place. But which word you choose depends on the situation.
Bring describes movement to another place when the speaker or listener is already there: Bring the photos when you come to visit me. ♦ I’ll bring the photos to your house tonight. ♦ He visited us and brought his sister with him.
Take describes movement to another place when the speaker or listener is NOT already there: Take the photos when you go to visit her. ♦ I’ll take the photos to her house. ♦ He went to visit them and took his sister with him.
Say “bring it to Miami” if you are in Miami; say “take it to Miami” if you are NOT in Miami.

cambridge

bring
to take or carry someone or something to a place or a person, or in the direction of the person speaking

the free dictionary

Usage Note: In most dialects of American English bring is used to denote motion toward the place of speaking or the place from which the action is regarded: Bring it over here. The prime minister brought a large retinue to Washington with her. Take is used to denote motion away from such a place: Take it over there. The President will take several advisers with him when he goes to Moscow. When the relevant point of focus is not the place of speaking itself, the difference obviously depends on the context. We can say either The labor leaders brought or took their requests to the mayor's office, depending on whether we want to describe things from the point of view of the labor leaders or the mayor. Perhaps for this reason, the distinction between bring and take has been blurred in some areas; a parent may say of a child, for example, She always takes a pile of books home with her from school. This usage may sound curious to those who are accustomed to observe the distinction more strictly, but it bears no particular stigma of incorrectness or illiteracy. · The form brung is common in colloquial use in many areas, even among educated speakers, but it is not standard in formal writing.

dictionary.reference.com

—Can be confused:  bring, take (see synonym note at this entry ).

—Synonyms
1. transport; lead, guide. Bring, fetch, take imply conveying or conducting in relation to the place where the speaker is. To bring is simply to convey or conduct: Bring it to me. I'm permitted to bring my dog here with me. It is the opposite of take, which means to convey or conduct away from the place where the speaker is: Bring it back here. Take it back there. Fetch means to go, get, and bring back: Fetch me that bottle.

so if place is relevant it looks like it does matter.
By the grey area, I meant situation when the point of speaking is irrelevant.

Cheers

ps. I'm sorry I didn't find any usage notes in the collins dictionary

 

[Pedroski]

Wonderful, but I wasn't referring to the various uses of take vs bring. I merely said, in English bring does not solely refer to something being brought to the location of the speaker, 'here'. This is evident from the defintions.

I don't know who writes dictionary.reference.com, but your quote is rubbish, don't rely on them.

 

[Jaskin]

hi,

Wonderful, but I wasn't referring to the various uses of take vs bring.

I thought that was what the OP was asking about. ;-)

cheers

 

[Pedroski]

He was asking that, and I gave him my two-pennth worth. After which, someone said you could not use bring in his sentence in British English. I begged to differ!! Pigs might indeed fly if you can't use bring there! But sure, there are situations where I would use bring but not take, and vice versa.
Must be time for a beer!

 

[Tan Elaine]

hi,

I thought that was what the OP was asking about. ;-)

cheers

Thanks, Jaskin, for your great effort. That was what I was looking for.