To (have / take) a swim
1. I'm going for a swim.
2. I'm going to have a swim.
3. I'm going to take a swim.
Are the last two sentences correct? I know the first one is, but what about the last two?
I know that you can use 'have' and 'take' with certain nouns, in sentences such as;
1. We're going to (have/take) a look around
2. I'm gonna have a read of this book
I believe they're called Delexical Verbs.
I know they sound a bit unnatural, but are they correct and would you find them okay in informal/casual conversations?
grammar sentence-choice sentence-usage
asked 2 days ago
FrostC0FrostC0
33019
add a comment |
1. I'm going for a swim.
2. I'm going to have a swim.
3. I'm going to take a swim.
Are the last two sentences correct? I know the first one is, but what about the last two?
I know that you can use 'have' and 'take' with certain nouns, in sentences such as;
1. We're going to (have/take) a look around
2. I'm gonna have a read of this book
I believe they're called Delexical Verbs.
I know they sound a bit unnatural, but are they correct and would you find them okay in informal/casual conversations?
grammar sentence-choice sentence-usage
asked 2 days ago
FrostC0FrostC0
33019
1
They are correct, and sound quite natural to me (with the possible exception of your last example). Note that "have" is more common in British English, and "take" is more common in US English.
– TonyK
2 days ago
add a comment |
1. I'm going for a swim.
2. I'm going to have a swim.
3. I'm going to take a swim.
Are the last two sentences correct? I know the first one is, but what about the last two?
I know that you can use 'have' and 'take' with certain nouns, in sentences such as;
1. We're going to (have/take) a look around
2. I'm gonna have a read of this book
I believe they're called Delexical Verbs.
I know they sound a bit unnatural, but are they correct and would you find them okay in informal/casual conversations?
grammar sentence-choice sentence-usage
asked 2 days ago
FrostC0FrostC0
33019
1. I'm going for a swim.
2. I'm going to have a swim.
3. I'm going to take a swim.
Are the last two sentences correct? I know the first one is, but what about the last two?
I know that you can use 'have' and 'take' with certain nouns, in sentences such as;
1. We're going to (have/take) a look around
2. I'm gonna have a read of this book
I believe they're called Delexical Verbs.
I know they sound a bit unnatural, but are they correct and would you find them okay in informal/casual conversations?
grammar sentence-choice sentence-usage
grammar sentence-choice sentence-usage
asked 2 days ago
FrostC0FrostC0
33019
asked 2 days ago
FrostC0FrostC0
33019
edited 2 days ago
FrostC0
asked 2 days ago
FrostC0FrostC0
33019
asked 2 days ago
FrostC0FrostC0
33019
asked 2 days ago
FrostC0FrostC0
33019
33019
1
They are correct, and sound quite natural to me (with the possible exception of your last example). Note that "have" is more common in British English, and "take" is more common in US English.
– TonyK
2 days ago
add a comment |
1
They are correct, and sound quite natural to me (with the possible exception of your last example). Note that "have" is more common in British English, and "take" is more common in US English.
– TonyK
2 days ago
1
1
They are correct, and sound quite natural to me (with the possible exception of your last example). Note that "have" is more common in British English, and "take" is more common in US English.
– TonyK
2 days ago
They are correct, and sound quite natural to me (with the possible exception of your last example). Note that "have" is more common in British English, and "take" is more common in US English.
– TonyK
2 days ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
All three sentences are correct, but they can carry a surprisingly complex subtlety of meaning.
"I'm going for [something]", in this context, means I am departing to do or obtain that something. In other contexts, it could instead mean I am attempting to achieve something ("I'm going for the record"), or I am choosing an option (given a choice of desserts, "I'm going for the ice-cream"), but neither of these alternative possibilities applies to "going for a swim".
"I'm going to (have|take) a swim", on the other hand, mean that you are planning to swim. There is no implication that you'll have to go elsewhere in order to do so, as there is with "I'm going for a swim". In the specific case of swimming, this distinction is pretty meaningless, but if you replace the activity with, say, napping, it gains some relevance: "I'm going for a nap" is appropriate only if you are napping elsewhere, while "I'm going to (have|take) a nap" would also be appropriate if you're going to nap right where you are.
answered 2 days ago
DaraelDarael
9019
Would you say that this is also correct? "They've gone to have a swim"
– FrostC0
2 days ago
2
@FrostC0 Correct, but not terribly natural. "They've gone for a swim" or "they've gone swimming" would be more idiomatic.
– Darael
2 days ago
1
I'm going for a swim could be used in the same sense as I'm going for the ice cream if there are a number of activities to choose from, one of which being swimming. I'm going for a swim. What are you going to to? I bet you'll want to run some laps or use the gym equipment instead. Although not commonly used that way, it's still possible.
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
1
@JasonBassford I considered this, but my instinct is to argue that for the "choice" sense to truly apply, it would need to be "the swim", with a definite article. There being other options is insufficient; the sentence itself must imply selection rather than motion for that sense to be really relevant.
– Darael
2 days ago
1
The definite or indefinite article is irrelevant. It's still a choice. I'm going for a chocolate-flavoured ice cream. I haven't decided which one yet.
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "481"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fell.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f192736%2fto-have-take-a-swim%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
All three sentences are correct, but they can carry a surprisingly complex subtlety of meaning.
"I'm going for [something]", in this context, means I am departing to do or obtain that something. In other contexts, it could instead mean I am attempting to achieve something ("I'm going for the record"), or I am choosing an option (given a choice of desserts, "I'm going for the ice-cream"), but neither of these alternative possibilities applies to "going for a swim".
"I'm going to (have|take) a swim", on the other hand, mean that you are planning to swim. There is no implication that you'll have to go elsewhere in order to do so, as there is with "I'm going for a swim". In the specific case of swimming, this distinction is pretty meaningless, but if you replace the activity with, say, napping, it gains some relevance: "I'm going for a nap" is appropriate only if you are napping elsewhere, while "I'm going to (have|take) a nap" would also be appropriate if you're going to nap right where you are.
answered 2 days ago
DaraelDarael
9019
Would you say that this is also correct? "They've gone to have a swim"
– FrostC0
2 days ago
2
@FrostC0 Correct, but not terribly natural. "They've gone for a swim" or "they've gone swimming" would be more idiomatic.
– Darael
2 days ago
1
I'm going for a swim could be used in the same sense as I'm going for the ice cream if there are a number of activities to choose from, one of which being swimming. I'm going for a swim. What are you going to to? I bet you'll want to run some laps or use the gym equipment instead. Although not commonly used that way, it's still possible.
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
1
@JasonBassford I considered this, but my instinct is to argue that for the "choice" sense to truly apply, it would need to be "the swim", with a definite article. There being other options is insufficient; the sentence itself must imply selection rather than motion for that sense to be really relevant.
– Darael
2 days ago
1
The definite or indefinite article is irrelevant. It's still a choice. I'm going for a chocolate-flavoured ice cream. I haven't decided which one yet.
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
add a comment |
All three sentences are correct, but they can carry a surprisingly complex subtlety of meaning.
"I'm going for [something]", in this context, means I am departing to do or obtain that something. In other contexts, it could instead mean I am attempting to achieve something ("I'm going for the record"), or I am choosing an option (given a choice of desserts, "I'm going for the ice-cream"), but neither of these alternative possibilities applies to "going for a swim".
"I'm going to (have|take) a swim", on the other hand, mean that you are planning to swim. There is no implication that you'll have to go elsewhere in order to do so, as there is with "I'm going for a swim". In the specific case of swimming, this distinction is pretty meaningless, but if you replace the activity with, say, napping, it gains some relevance: "I'm going for a nap" is appropriate only if you are napping elsewhere, while "I'm going to (have|take) a nap" would also be appropriate if you're going to nap right where you are.
answered 2 days ago
DaraelDarael
9019
Would you say that this is also correct? "They've gone to have a swim"
– FrostC0
2 days ago
2
@FrostC0 Correct, but not terribly natural. "They've gone for a swim" or "they've gone swimming" would be more idiomatic.
– Darael
2 days ago
1
I'm going for a swim could be used in the same sense as I'm going for the ice cream if there are a number of activities to choose from, one of which being swimming. I'm going for a swim. What are you going to to? I bet you'll want to run some laps or use the gym equipment instead. Although not commonly used that way, it's still possible.
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
1
@JasonBassford I considered this, but my instinct is to argue that for the "choice" sense to truly apply, it would need to be "the swim", with a definite article. There being other options is insufficient; the sentence itself must imply selection rather than motion for that sense to be really relevant.
– Darael
2 days ago
1
The definite or indefinite article is irrelevant. It's still a choice. I'm going for a chocolate-flavoured ice cream. I haven't decided which one yet.
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
add a comment |
All three sentences are correct, but they can carry a surprisingly complex subtlety of meaning.
"I'm going for [something]", in this context, means I am departing to do or obtain that something. In other contexts, it could instead mean I am attempting to achieve something ("I'm going for the record"), or I am choosing an option (given a choice of desserts, "I'm going for the ice-cream"), but neither of these alternative possibilities applies to "going for a swim".
"I'm going to (have|take) a swim", on the other hand, mean that you are planning to swim. There is no implication that you'll have to go elsewhere in order to do so, as there is with "I'm going for a swim". In the specific case of swimming, this distinction is pretty meaningless, but if you replace the activity with, say, napping, it gains some relevance: "I'm going for a nap" is appropriate only if you are napping elsewhere, while "I'm going to (have|take) a nap" would also be appropriate if you're going to nap right where you are.
answered 2 days ago
DaraelDarael
9019
All three sentences are correct, but they can carry a surprisingly complex subtlety of meaning.
"I'm going for [something]", in this context, means I am departing to do or obtain that something. In other contexts, it could instead mean I am attempting to achieve something ("I'm going for the record"), or I am choosing an option (given a choice of desserts, "I'm going for the ice-cream"), but neither of these alternative possibilities applies to "going for a swim".
"I'm going to (have|take) a swim", on the other hand, mean that you are planning to swim. There is no implication that you'll have to go elsewhere in order to do so, as there is with "I'm going for a swim". In the specific case of swimming, this distinction is pretty meaningless, but if you replace the activity with, say, napping, it gains some relevance: "I'm going for a nap" is appropriate only if you are napping elsewhere, while "I'm going to (have|take) a nap" would also be appropriate if you're going to nap right where you are.
answered 2 days ago
DaraelDarael
9019
answered 2 days ago
DaraelDarael
9019
answered 2 days ago
DaraelDarael
9019
answered 2 days ago
DaraelDarael
9019
9019
Would you say that this is also correct? "They've gone to have a swim"
– FrostC0
2 days ago
2
@FrostC0 Correct, but not terribly natural. "They've gone for a swim" or "they've gone swimming" would be more idiomatic.
– Darael
2 days ago
1
I'm going for a swim could be used in the same sense as I'm going for the ice cream if there are a number of activities to choose from, one of which being swimming. I'm going for a swim. What are you going to to? I bet you'll want to run some laps or use the gym equipment instead. Although not commonly used that way, it's still possible.
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
1
@JasonBassford I considered this, but my instinct is to argue that for the "choice" sense to truly apply, it would need to be "the swim", with a definite article. There being other options is insufficient; the sentence itself must imply selection rather than motion for that sense to be really relevant.
– Darael
2 days ago
1
The definite or indefinite article is irrelevant. It's still a choice. I'm going for a chocolate-flavoured ice cream. I haven't decided which one yet.
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
add a comment |
Would you say that this is also correct? "They've gone to have a swim"
– FrostC0
2 days ago
2
@FrostC0 Correct, but not terribly natural. "They've gone for a swim" or "they've gone swimming" would be more idiomatic.
– Darael
2 days ago
1
I'm going for a swim could be used in the same sense as I'm going for the ice cream if there are a number of activities to choose from, one of which being swimming. I'm going for a swim. What are you going to to? I bet you'll want to run some laps or use the gym equipment instead. Although not commonly used that way, it's still possible.
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
1
@JasonBassford I considered this, but my instinct is to argue that for the "choice" sense to truly apply, it would need to be "the swim", with a definite article. There being other options is insufficient; the sentence itself must imply selection rather than motion for that sense to be really relevant.
– Darael
2 days ago
1
The definite or indefinite article is irrelevant. It's still a choice. I'm going for a chocolate-flavoured ice cream. I haven't decided which one yet.
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
Would you say that this is also correct? "They've gone to have a swim"
– FrostC0
2 days ago
Would you say that this is also correct? "They've gone to have a swim"
– FrostC0
2 days ago
2
2
@FrostC0 Correct, but not terribly natural. "They've gone for a swim" or "they've gone swimming" would be more idiomatic.
– Darael
2 days ago
@FrostC0 Correct, but not terribly natural. "They've gone for a swim" or "they've gone swimming" would be more idiomatic.
– Darael
2 days ago
1
1
I'm going for a swim could be used in the same sense as I'm going for the ice cream if there are a number of activities to choose from, one of which being swimming. I'm going for a swim. What are you going to to? I bet you'll want to run some laps or use the gym equipment instead. Although not commonly used that way, it's still possible.
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
I'm going for a swim could be used in the same sense as I'm going for the ice cream if there are a number of activities to choose from, one of which being swimming. I'm going for a swim. What are you going to to? I bet you'll want to run some laps or use the gym equipment instead. Although not commonly used that way, it's still possible.
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
1
1
@JasonBassford I considered this, but my instinct is to argue that for the "choice" sense to truly apply, it would need to be "the swim", with a definite article. There being other options is insufficient; the sentence itself must imply selection rather than motion for that sense to be really relevant.
– Darael
2 days ago
@JasonBassford I considered this, but my instinct is to argue that for the "choice" sense to truly apply, it would need to be "the swim", with a definite article. There being other options is insufficient; the sentence itself must imply selection rather than motion for that sense to be really relevant.
– Darael
2 days ago
1
1
The definite or indefinite article is irrelevant. It's still a choice. I'm going for a chocolate-flavoured ice cream. I haven't decided which one yet.
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
The definite or indefinite article is irrelevant. It's still a choice. I'm going for a chocolate-flavoured ice cream. I haven't decided which one yet.
– Jason Bassford
2 days ago
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language Learners Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fell.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f192736%2fto-have-take-a-swim%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
1
They are correct, and sound quite natural to me (with the possible exception of your last example). Note that "have" is more common in British English, and "take" is more common in US English.
– TonyK
2 days ago