If you visit New York, let me know and I'll take you out for
a pizza. Did that take you by surprise? I hope you take me
up on that, and please trust me and I say that I won't take
you for a ride. Let's discuss Welcome to another Happy English podcast coming to
you from New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael. All
right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael here from Happy
English and I help people speak English better. And this is Happy English Podcast,
Episode six seventy eight, Ways to take Someone. By the way,
did you know that you can now listen to this podcast on Padiama. That's
the podcast play that effortlessly sinks across mobile, web and desktop devices. Idioms
can add color and richness to your English, and today I have a set
of idioms that use the verb take and various prepositions. These are commonly used
phrases in English conversations that you can use with your friends, family, and
in the workplace. Let's check him out. First of all, you can
take someone out. Take someone out means to invite someone on a social outing,
like dinner or even a romantic date. Here are some examples. After
a long week at the office, Tom decided to take his staff out for
a relaxing dinner. Jennifer's husband surprised her by taking her out to a fancy
restaurant for their anniversary. Sam's family took him out when he graduated from university.
Speaking of inviting people, you can also take someone up on something.
Yes, you heard that right. There are two prepositions in a row.
Take someone up on something that means to accept another person's invitation or offer.
The grammar pattern is take someone up on something. For example, Sarah offered
to help me to move, and I happily took her up on her offer.
The company CEO encouraged employees to take her up on the opportunity for professional
development. When I offered to help my mom sell her car, she took
me up on it. Perhaps, if you offer to take someone out,
doing so may take them by surprise. Just as it sounds, takes someone
by surprise means to say or do something unexpectedly that surprises the other person.
Here are some examples. During the company picnic, the sudden thunderstorm took everyone
by surprise. The incredible magic trick performed by the magician took the audience by
surprise. When we found out that Nancy quit her job, it took all
of us by surprise. Thinking about the last example. The reason Nancy quit
her job was because her boss took her off the project she was working on.
Take someone off means to remove a person. You can take someone off
a job, take someone off a position, or take someone off a list
of names. Here are some examples. Because he was late too much,
the manager decided to take Neil off the marketing project. The coach took the
injured player off the field to avoid further injuries. Melanie will be on vacation
the last week of August, so we can take her off the list for
the sales conference. Another thing that you can do for someone is to take
them under your wing. When you take someone under your wing, you mentor
them or guide them. Here are some examples. In nineteen ninety four,
when I was a new teacher, one of the more experienced teachers took me
under his wing and helped me learn the ropes about teaching English. When I
moved to New York City, my neighbor Helen kindly took me under her wing
and showed me around the neighborhood. The coach took the talented young baseball player
under his wing and trained him for the upcoming season. The last one is
take someone for a ride. That sounds fun, doesn't it. Well,
if someone takes you for a ride, it means that they trick you or
do something dishonest. For example, the salespeople in that used car lot are
notorious for taking the customers for a ride. You need to be careful about
Jack's neighbor Ritchie. He's known for taking people for a ride with his get
rich quick investment schemes. The Kanaris took the elderly couple for a ride by
pretending to be a charity worker. Keep in mind, the best way to
remember this and any vocabulary is to take the word or phrase, write it
in a sentence that's true for you or true in your world, and then
memorize your sentences. Well that's it for this English lesson podcast. See I
didn't take you for a ride. By the way, If you'd like to
get more practice using your English, why don't you join my podcast Learners study
group. There you can make new friends. Join me for live group coaching
every week. Plus get the pdf transcript and audio download for every Happy English
podcast in the past and in the future, and each episode has exercises where
you can practice this English point with speaking and writing checked by me. To
learn more or to see some of the example sentences from this lesson, just
visit my Happy English dot com and choose podcast lesson six seventy eight. Remember
learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm here
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