Keep/Put it over there.

[Ashraful Haque]

Someone had taken a dumbbell from me and when he came to return it I said:
Keep it over in that corner. I feel like I've made a mistake and it should've been 'put it over in that corner.'

Am I correct?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Someone had taken a dumbbell from me, and when he came to return it, I said:
"Keep it over in that corner." I feel like I've made a mistake, and it should've been 'Put it over in that corner.'

Am I correct?

Yes, you are!

 

[Tarheel]

Someone borrowed a dumbbell from me and when he came to return it I said:
Keep it over in that corner. I feel like I've made a mistake and it should've been 'put it over in that corner.'

Am I correct?

Do you know why I made the change?

 

[Ashraful Haque]

Do you know why I made the change?

I absolutely do. I've always been making this mistake. I'll use 'borrow' where appropriate from now on.

 

[GoesStation]

[STRIKE]I've[/STRIKE] I'm always [STRIKE]been[/STRIKE] making this mistake.

See above. You can also say "I always make this mistake."

 

[Ashraful Haque]

If he brings it to you, then 'Put it (over) in that corner' is correct.
If he comes without it, then 'Leave/Keep' it (over) in that corner' is correct.

I'm sorry I didn't get you. How can he leave/keep it if he comes without it?

As far as I understand 'leave/keep' means not to touch it and 'put' means put it somewhere.

 

[emsr2d2]

If they bring it to you and you don't want it to stay where you are, say "Leave it over in that corner". Effectively, you are saying "Take it away from me. Take it over to that corner and leave it there". It's just a lot quicker to say "Leave it over there". Native speakers will understand the rest!

 

[Ashraful Haque]

If they bring it to you and you don't want it to stay where you are, say "Leave it over in that corner". Effectively, you are saying "Take it away from me. Take it over to that corner and leave it there". It's just a lot quicker to say "Leave it over there". Native speakers will understand the rest!

This is very confusing. I hope I'm not being dumb. I don't understand what 'if you don't want it to stay where you are' mean.
I'm very confused. How do I decide whether to use leave, keep and put? :?:

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

This is very confusing. I hope I'm not being dumb. I don't understand what 'if you don't want it to stay where you are' mean.
I'm very confused. How do I decide whether to use leave, keep and put? :?:

Looking at your dictionary again might help you.

Keep means store, stash, secure. The place we keep things is where they go no one is using them: I'm looking for the weights. Where do you keep them?

Put means place, deposit, lay. It's a simple instruction on what to do with it: Put the weights on the floor. I'll put them on their rack later. The rack is where we keep them.

Leave means put and walk away: Leave the weights on the table when you're ready to go home. Tomorrow, I'll put them on the rack where we keep them.

 

[emsr2d2]

Also, "leave something ..." can have two meanings. It can mean "put something somewhere and then walk away without touching it again" or simply "Don't touch it".

Peter - Your water bottle is by the exercise bike. Do you want me to get it for you?
Helen - No, thanks. Leave it where it is. I'll pick it up later.

Peter - I found your water bottle. Here you go. (Said as Peter offers the bottle to Helen)
Helen - Thanks, but please leave it over there by my shoes.

In the first dialogue, Helen is asking Peter not to touch it. She wants him to leave it where it (already) is.
In the second dialogue, it's clearly in Peter's hand but Helen doesn't want it right now so she asks him to take the bottle over to where her shoes are and put it down, then leave it there.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

Looking at your dictionary again might help you.

Keep means store, stash, secure. The place we keep things is where they go no one is using them: I'm looking for the weights. Where do you keep them?

Put means place, deposit, lay. It's a simple instruction on what to do with it: Put the weights on the floor. I'll put them on their rack later. The rack is where we keep them.

Leave means put and walk away: Leave the weights on the table when you're ready to go home. Tomorrow, I'll put them on the rack where we keep them.

According to this, in my context (put it over there) 'keep' isn't correct/natural. It should be either 'put' or 'leave.' But can I use 'leave' even if the person isn't actually leaving? Would using 'leave' actually tell him to leave after leaving it in the corner?

I came across another sentence- 'I've put the luggage in the room.' It's from a travel English learning video but for some reason it sounds kind of awkward to me.

 

[GoesStation]

"Leave it over there" does not mean "put it down there and go away". Leave refers to the thing the person has possession of, not to the person.

I came across another sentence: 'I've put the luggage in the room.' It's from a travel English learning video but for some reason it sounds kind of awkward to me.

That's perfectly natural.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

"Leave it over there" does not mean "put it down there and go away". Leave refers to the thing the person has possession of, not to the person.

I understand that part but one of the replies above says leave= "put something somewhere and then walk away without touching it again."

 

[GoesStation]

I understand that part but one of the replies above says leave= "put something somewhere and then walk away from it without touching it again."

Is it clearer with my addition?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I understand that part but one of the replies above says leave= "put something somewhere and then walk away without touching it again."

Yes, exactly.

Now I have to scroll up to see who said it.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Is it clearer with my addition?

I think so. Let's see is Ashraful agrees.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

Is it clearer with my addition?

I see think I get it. But from a different perspective. If I'm the one who borrowed the weights. Do both 'put' and 'leave' work here as well:
"Where should I put/leave it?"

 

[emsr2d2]

If you borrowed the weights, you might say "I've finished with these. Where should I put them?" or "I've finished with these. Where should I leave them?" It really doesn't matter.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

I came across another problem today. My brother was constantly using his phone while studying so I said:
"Give me your phone for 15 minutes. I'll just keep it over here until you finish answering the questions."

I learned from this post that keep means to store/stash/secure. The place we keep things is where they go when no one is using them.
Should I have said 'I'll just put it over here?' 'Put' doesn't sound right to me in this context.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

If you intend to have the phone in your possession, or very close to you, then that is fine.

Yes that's what I meant. So was I correct to use 'keep' instead of 'put' here? And is 'put' wrong in this context?