You may find it helpful to consider the differences in these words in terms of direction: Take – from your location outbound Bring – inbound to your location Carry – any direction Fetch – from your location outbound AND then inbound to your location. Some English learners have particular problems with take and bring, depending on their native language. In Chinese for example, both are expressed by the same word. How about Italian?

Think of bring and take in the context of come and go. You take things with you when you go; you bring things when you come. I will bring a cake when I come to see you next week. I am going to take a cake when I go to see my friend. To carry is to literally hold something while you come or go somewhere. I had to carry the shopping home. Can you carry the suitcases to the car for me ? To fetch is to get something and bring it back. When we throw a stick or a ball for a dog and expect it go pick it up and bring it back to us, we are expecting the dog to fetch the ball. Fetch is a slightly old-fashioned word and not used a lot outside of the example I have given. But you can ask someone to fetch something for you - to go and get it and bring it back to you.