Everyday English Expressions with TAKE

Everyday English Expressions with TAKE

Some verbs do a lot of heavy lifting in English, and take is one of them. It appears in everyday conversations, news articles, emails, and exam answers — often in fixed expressions that don’t always make sense if you translate them word for word. That’s why learning expressions with take is essential if you want your English to sound natural rather than textbook-perfect. In this lesson, we’ll look at 15 common everyday English expressions with take, each explained clearly and illustrated with natural example sentences. These expressions are especially useful for speaking, writing, and Cambridge exam tasks, where confident, idiomatic language makes a real difference.

 

Be taken with something or someone

Meaning: to be interested and attracted by something or someone.

• Nick was taken with the girl, so he asked her out.
• Lorna seemed taken with the idea of moving to another country.

Take your time

Meaning: to do something without hurrying.

• You don’t have to decide immediately. Take your time.
• Take your time to relax and have a proper rest; see you again on Monday!

Take the liberty of

Meaning: to do something without asking for permission.

• I hope you don’t mind – I took the liberty of borrowing your phone. I needed it urgently.
• I took the liberty of inviting my friend to your party.  Everyday English Expressions with TAKE

Take steps

Meaning: to act in order to achieve something.

• Martin’s parents asked him to take steps to improve his grades if he wants to go to college.
• The school will take steps against bullying.

Take notes

Meaning: to record information by writing.

• Sophie opened her notebook and began to take notes at the meeting.
• The students were sitting, ready to take notes during the lecture.

Take advice

Meaning: to do what someone advises you to do.

• I decided to take my lawyer’s advice and invest my money in that company’s shares.
• Do you tend to take your friends’ advice?

Take pride in something

Meaning: to feel proud about something.

• Lucy was a successful businesswoman who took pride in her work.
• Mary and her husband took pride in their children. Everyday English Expressions with TAKE

Take place

Meaning: to happen.

• The story of the film takes place in the 17th century in southern France.
• The music festival takes place next Saturday.

Take heart

Meaning: get encouraged or more confident.

• Take heart. You’ll recover soon, and things will get better.
• If things seem to progress too slowly, take heart and just go on.

Take a breath

Meaning: to breathe in.

• Anna took a deep breath and opened the letter.
• He took a breath and dived into the water.

Take advantage of someone

Meaning: to use someone’s weakness to get something from them.

• The beach painter took advantage of the tourist and charged him too much.
• If you are too weak, people will take advantage of you.

Take the blame

Meaning: to admit that you’ve done something wrong.

• The lorry driver took the blame for the accident and agreed to pay for the damage.
• Brian was a proud man who refused to take the blame for other people’s mistakes.

Take it or leave it

Meaning: use the phrase to tell someone that you don’t care whether they will accept your offer or not.

• I’m afraid we can’t give you a discount. Take it or leave it. Everyday English Expressions with TAKE
• This is my final offer – take it or leave it.

Have what it takes

Meaning: to have enough knowledge, ability, etc. to be successful.

• We hope the candidates have what it takes for the position.
• Sandra is an extraordinary pianist. I think she has what it takes to become famous someday.

Take something as it comes

Meaning: to accept something without much thinking about it.

• Julie is a brave woman who takes life as it comes to her.
• After her illness, Amanda learned to take each day as it comes and take things easy.

Expressions with take are extremely common in real English, and the more you notice them, the easier they become to use. Don’t try to memorise all of them at once. Instead, choose two or three that feel useful to you and start using them in short sentences, conversations, or writing tasks.

A good habit is to listen for these expressions in films, podcasts, or everyday speech and notice how naturally they appear. Over time, they will stop feeling like “expressions” and start feeling like normal English — which is exactly the goal.

Do the quiz to perfect your knowledge:

 

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