ENGLISH
REFERENCE

take sb/sth on

phr. v..
B1 Intermediate Oxford

phr. v.. to agree to do a job or take a new responsibility; it can also mean to fight or compete against someone.

phr. v.. to accept a task, duty, or responsibility; alternatively, to engage an opponent in a contest or struggle.


SIMPLE

I can't take on any more work right now.

CONTEXTUAL

The small local team is ready to take on the national champions in the final match tomorrow.

COMPLEX

Despite her existing workload, she decided to take on the role of lead researcher to ensure the project's success.

Particles
on
Separability
optional
Pattern
take + (object) + on + (object)
Usage

when used for people, it often implies a challenge or a competitive struggle.

Teaching tip

this phrasal verb is polysemous; use a workplace context for the 'responsibility' sense and a sports context for the 'compete' sense to help students distinguish them.

Pitfall

I took on it.I took it on.when the object is a pronoun like 'it', it must go between the verb and the particle.

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