by Alan Townend24. Phrasal verb take or «Take on».........................................
In this story I'd like to take you on a journey to discover the secrets
of another phrasal verb — take.
As you probably know by now phrasal verbs are made up of two
parts — the verb + a preposition.
I'm sure you have noticed that one phrasal verb can have hundreds
of different meanings. Here are just two examples:
The airplane is taking off in 30 minutes.
Last summer I took up a new hobby — scuba diving.Can you guess the meaning of these sentence? You're right. The first
expressions means that «the airplane is leaving the ground in 30
minutes — it starts flying in 30 minutes.»
The second expression means that «I started a new hobby last
hobby — I started to scuba dive.»
What about some more examples? Read this story and try to guess
the meaning of the expressions with the verb take in italics.
«Take On»
When he was forty-two, Charlie Banham was made redundant. He
didn't take to the idea at all. It all happened so quickly. His boss,
Angus Henderson, whom Charlie had not taken to the moment he'd
taken over from his previous boss eighteen months before, took him
aside early one Monday morning and asked him to come to his office,
assuring him as he did so that it wouldn't take up much of his time.
He was right. Henderson asked him to sit down, took up a piece of
paper and proceeded to read from it. The content of the speech was
that Charlie would have to go but of course, if he wished, he could
take the matter up with the managing director and take the matter
further. In other words Charlie was being asked to take himself off as
quickly as possible. It took several minutes before Charlie could
really take in the news. What really galled him was that Henderson
was so taken up with himself that he couldn't even be bothered to
thank Charlie for his services over the last ten years. Charlie was
apparently being blamed for the drop in sales of his new product
which he had convinced everyone would soon take off.
Charlie cleared his desk and went to the canteen to enjoy his last cup
of coffee there. Colleagues assured him he was lucky. With his free
time, they said, Charlie could take up all those hobbies and interests
for which he had never had time before. He would soon take to his
new life, drawing his pension and enjoying the financial benefits of
his lump sum. But Charlie had other ideas. At first he was so taken
aback by the news that he couldn't think straight. Then all he wanted
was to take Henderson by the throat and tell him exactly what he
thought of him. But Charlie took after his father who always looked
on the bright side and slowly he began to take in the possible