LAST or TAKE? | How are these verbs different?
Hi everyone! Today’s quick blog will be focusing on this question. So, what is the difference between last or take? Both verbs give us the duration of something – 20 minutes, two hours, five days, six months etc. Let’s continue…
TAKE focuses on the effort
take + (object) + duration + infinitive
LAST focuses on something ending
last + (object) + duration
Let’s compare:
It takes 15 hours to make one car.
A good car should last 20 years.
In the first sentence, I am focusing on the effort of ‘making’. In the second example, I am focusing on ‘how long’ we can use the car before we cannot any more.
My family takes about two days to finish a gallon of milk.
A gallon of milk lasts my family about two days.
In the first sentence, I am focusing on the effort of ‘finishing’. In the second example, I am focusing on ‘how long’ we can use a gallon of milk before it is all gone.
It takes me three hours to drive to my boyfriend’s house.
The journey to my boyfriend’s house lasts three hours.
In the first sentence, I am focusing on the effort of ‘driving’. In the second example, I am focusing on ‘how long’ my journey is before it ends.
More examples:
My phones takes ages to charge.
My phone battery lasts all day once it’s been charged.
How long are you going to take (to get ready)?
My makeup really isn’t going to last long in this rain.
It takes me one week to earn $800.
$800 lasts me three weeks. That’s enough for food and other necessities.
Sometimes we use these verbs to express the SAME thing:
The flight takes five hours.
The flight lasts five hours.
But, in many cases, like in the other examples above, we cannot use these verbs interchangeably.
I want to learn about RAISE and RISE.
