had/ate/took lunch

[Tan Elaine]

We had/ate/took lunch at the restaurant yesterday evening.

Can each verb in bold be used in the above sentence?

Thanks.

 

[BobK]

Yes, but 'take lunch' is not commonly used any more, so it's a much less common collocation. (See Related Threads for furthe discussion,information.)

b

 

[bhaisahab]

We had/ate/took lunch at the restaurant yesterday evening.

Can each verb in bold be used in the above sentence?

Thanks.

You are more likely to have/eat/take dinner in the evening.

 

[BobK]

- missed that. I think 'more likely' was putting it rather mildly. People don't eat lunch in the evening, although as a joke people may sometimes they do/did.

b

 

[emsr2d2]

At my previous job, we used "take lunch" to mean "take a lunchbreak".

- What time are you taking lunch today?
- 1pm.

That doesn't mean the person is actually going to eat at exactly 1pm. It means they are going to start their lunchbreak (usually of an hour's duration) at 1pm. The assumption would be that at some point between 1pm and 2pm they will actually eat their lunch.

 

[BobK]

:up: But there was at one time a certain class of person who would both 'take lunch' and not have paid employment of any kind!

B

 

[5jj]

:up: But there was at one time a certain class of person who would both 'take lunch' and not have paid employment of any kind!

He was probably more likely to take 'luncheon'.