The use of the word "give" vs. "take"

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Alpha800: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 84; Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:18 pm; Location: Silicon Valley; Thanked: 4 times

by Alpha800 » Fri Jul 25, 2008 5:29 am

Some people use the word "give/gave/given" to mean "take/took/taken" in reference to "taking" tests/exams.

How did this come about? I believe this usage derives from Indian English but I've seen many Indians also use "take" appropriately when referring to taking exams. How did the use of "giving" exams come about? I'm really curious, as each time I read a post saying "I gave GMAT and scored 670" it just boggles my mind.

If one is the teacher/instructor, then one "gives" tests/exams to his or her students, but a student doesn't "give" exams, he or she "takes" exams.

A real world example post using "given" from this forum:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/reviews-for- ... 14697.html

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Fri Jul 25, 2008 5:29 am

costicailiescu2005: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:38 am; Location: Philadelphia

This is how the verb is used in other languages

by costicailiescu2005 » Sat Jul 26, 2008 8:46 pm

I have few more examples if you need.
I`ll try to be as explicit as I can: that`s the way these words are used in other languages. In my native language(and I`m not Indian, I`m from an Est-European country) is always said "give a test" instead of " take a test" or " make a photo" instead of " take a photo".
So.. when translated they could come as: " make a photo " or " is in vacation".

I`m 26 years old and I speak English for almost 2 years and from my experience I could say that these errors come from a word by word translation.

aim-wsc: Legendary Member; Posts: 2469; Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2006 12:09 pmFollowed by: 14 members; Location: BtG Underground; Thanked: 85 times

by aim-wsc » Mon Jul 28, 2008 8:32 pm

I entirely agree with (?? to ?? ) both of you there.

It not only comes, just from Indians but also from other non-native English speakers.
I observed that "take the test" is the most difficult phrase for the Inidans to digest!! You can learn English grammar, relearn it; but from an Indian perspective, if you've been "giving the tests" all twenty years of early life and all of a sudden you get exposed to ^the right English^ as you prepare for GRE/ GMAT, it's not that easy to mould yourself to it.

This bad grammar construction is result of literal translation from the native language.

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