Friday, January 4, 2019

Delexical verb (Have & Take) uses


When do exactly we choose to use have or take? They look sort of having similar context



I have a bath


I take a bath




And by the way, I saw that



I take a chance



Can't be transformed to



I have a chance



Can it?


*Moreover, If there's a verb used like the bath, it means the bath is no more a verb but a noun right?



Also very important is that , can they be applied randomly to *a verb or a noun?


Like :


* - I take a choose


Or



  • I take an option ( this one makes sense but I mean in the context of delexical verb)


?


*EDIT: My mistake , bath is actually not "a verb transformed to a noun, but its absolutely a noun."


So my concerns would be if they can be used interchangeably? And be applied to random noun?




Answer



Bath and chance are not verbs.


"*Take a choose" is grammatically incorrect since choose is a verb. To make it grammatically correct you can change it to "take a choice", although the common phrase is "make a choice".


Both have and take are delexical verbs, and their combinations with "bath" are collocations which are almost synonyms in this case (there may be a regional preference). But generally delexical verbs are not interchangeable and they can't go with just any verb - their use is idiomatic. For example, "take a chance" and "have a chance" have different meanings.


You can find more information about delexical verbs here.


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