Have you ever taken on a big challenge? Have you taken on any new hobbies lately?
There are several interesting phrasal verbs built upon the verb 'to take'. I made a video with a few examples: http://goo.gl/1nrqKu
Can you think of any others?
I believe there are a surprising number of "takes" to be discussed and never learned fully for most non-English speakers. It does take us a lot of time and effort to commit these "takes" to memory.
@Garry Andres, @billzhou: Those are great examples. I tried to limit my video to common phrasal verbs (a verb with a preposition) but there are also great particle verbs and compound verbs with 'take'.
Take care
Take a look
Take off
Take charge
Take command
take over
take the lead
take it.
'Take on' and 'take up' are not interchangable.
'To take on' means 'to face' a challenge or competitor.
In this case 'to take up' means 'to begin' a new hobby or regular activity.
Examples:
I'm looking forward to taking on this new position. I need management experience.
He was willing to take on a fighter much taller than him.
I'm thinking of taking up swimming.
She decided to take up knitting after her mother became ill.
