drive vs take

[beascarpetta]

Hi there,

I'm afraid I may have a slight problem since several of my students claim that "everybody in the US/UK" would find
"My dad drove me to school" perfectly correct
as opposed to "My dad took me to school" (as I dared to suggest)
They also maintained that sentences like
"Together they drove to a fast food restaurant.
Bob and the policeman drove back to the police office" were acceptable in the US,
which I (quite short-sighted a reaction, I know since I don't really have that information) valiantly denied.

Could you possibly comment on this?
Thank you.

 

[heidita]

Hi there,

I'm afraid I may have a slight problem since several of my students claim that "everybody in the US/UK" would find
"My dad drove me to school" perfectly correct
as opposed to "My dad took me to school" (as I dared to suggest)
They also maintained that sentences like
"Together they drove to a fast food restaurant.
Bob and the policeman drove back to the police office" were acceptable in the US,
which I (quite short-sighted a reaction, I know since I don't really have that information) valiantly denied.

Could you possibly comment on this?
Thank you.

I agree with both you and the students.

I consider that "take somewhere" does not necessarily imply driving or any kind of transport for that matter, but , of course, drive to school, would be perfectly correct if the transport is a car.
I haven't checked your profile, but probably you are American (??) I visited Miami once and my friend thought it outrageous that I should suggest "walking" to her university to collect her. Here in Spain, many children, not to say most, are taken to school on foot.

Bob and the policeman...sounds very good to me. I think anybody would think of a car in this context and the policeman driving.

Together they drove...could lead to misunderstandings, I think. One might understand that they both actually drove, taking turns.

Happy New Year!

cheers

 

[Anglika]

Hi there,

I'm afraid I may have a slight problem since several of my students claim that "everybody in the US/UK" would find
"My dad drove me to school" perfectly correct
as opposed to "My dad took me to school" (as I dared to suggest)
They also maintained that sentences like
"Together they drove to a fast food restaurant.
Bob and the policeman drove back to the police office" were acceptable in the US,
which I (quite short-sighted a reaction, I know since I don't really have that information) valiantly denied.

Could you possibly comment on this?
Thank you.

The use of "drove" in this form is perfectly natural to most people.

"He drove me to the station"
"They drive their children to school instead of walking"


I am interested as to why you felt it was incorrect.

 

[beascarpetta]

Thank you very much,heidita and Anglika.

It was the fact that their textbooks(Longman's The NEW YOU & ME ,BE )

instructed them throughout their basic course never to use "drive"

unless it meant controlling a vehicle's movement.

 

[Anglika]

In the sentences, there is an understood omission of the reference to a vehicle:

He drove the children to school [in his car].

So I suppose technically you can say that it is a correct use with an ellipsis.

 

[beascarpetta]

So I suppose technically you can say that it is a correct use with an ellipsis.

thank you very much indeed for kindly reminding me of the obvious
(one should refrain from correcting exam papers during school breaks at all costs:-D)