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Ricardo
Do or Take a course?
What is the difference between do and take? when we talking about courses, classes, lessons, and so on.
Cases:
1) I am a student and I will start studying a new course or lesson
2) I am a teacher and I will teach some subject
3) so on.. (that I can't think in more cases)
Oct 29, 2019 3:18 AM
Answers · 6
2
Both are possible. In British English, you'd be more likely to hear 'do a course', while American English speakers would be more likely to say 'take a class'.
About the word 'class':
In BrE 'class' has just two meanings in the context of education: a class can mean a set of students ( e.g. "I spoke to the whole class" ) or an individual lesson ("I was late for class")
In AmE there is a third meaning, where 'class' is used as a synonym of 'course'. In the context of US education, a 'class' is a set of lessons and assignments within a curriculum ( e.g. A student might say "I took Dr Smith's class last semester").
A more general point:
Collocations with 'take' are generally more common in AmE than in BrE. For example, you'd be more likely to hear 'have a bath' and 'go for a walk' in a British context, but 'take a bath' and 'take a walk' in an American one. Note my choice of the word 'likely': these are tendencies rather than hard and fast rules.
October 29, 2019
1
Take would be the preferred usage. The word take indicates that you are carrying something away, which may seem odd at first glass in regards to a course or class or subject. However, you are (hopefully), taking away knowledge upon completion of the course.
October 29, 2019
1
I feel the main difference is in the wording. Though I would mainly use "taking".
Student: I'm taking a class in biology at the local university. I'm doing biology this semester at the university.
Teacher: I'm taking on a biology class at the university/I'll be teaching biology at the university.
October 29, 2019
there are some verbs can be use in many situation. such as do take got have ect. as for a lesson I think take is much better. and course is a serious lessons for a specific subject. as for the distinction between lesson and class, i think class means the form of having a lesson ,and l incline to consider lesson is the contents of a class.
it may be not correct. I am learning english as u r. just check what other peoples comments.
October 29, 2019
My resource until now:
- take: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/take_1
- course: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/course_1
- https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/33443/what-is-the-difference-between-taking-courses-classes-or-lessons
- https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/do-take-a-course.1448202/
October 29, 2019
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Ricardo
Language Skills
English, Portuguese
Learning Language
English
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