Bring and take are very easily confused as their meanings are similar. To prevent confusing these two words, remember that bring means to carry something towards yourself, while take means to carry something away from yourself.
Example 1 (bring–correct usage): Bring
the supplies to my house so we can work on the project.
Note that in the sentence above, the direction of the action is
towards the speaker.
Example 2 (take-correct usage): Take
the supplies to your house so we can work on the project.
In Example 2, take, rather than bring, is used because the direction of the action is away from the speaker.
This explanation is not very good. A person will ask, “Can you bring me the supplies to my house.” I don’t know anyone who would say that is wrong. I know in other languages they have a similar distinction but in English we use bring in both situations. This may confuse some learners (especially Spanish learners).
Thank you for your comments, Leah.
“Can you bring me the supplies to my house?”
This is correct. I’m not sure why you are implying that I said this is incorrect. You are using bring to indicate a movement toward yourself.
Hmmm… Rachel, not sure I follow…
try these:
“I will bring it to you” vs. “I will take it to you”. Take would sound wrong here, would it? Even though its an action away from me…
Sometimes the direction is implied, more than stated, and the difference can be very subtle. It depends on the context. For example: “Bring the supplies to my house so we can work on the project.” This implies that I am at my house, and I am asking you to deliver the items to me there (toward me). I could also say “Take the supplies to my house” if I were at a location other than my house, and I am directing you to transfer the supplies from where I am currently to my house (away from me).
This one seems obvious to me…Bring has ‘in’ right in it, and Take has an ‘a’ as in away….