Hard: To take someone out

Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

This episode is hard so we’re looking at more difficult football phrases and idioms.

Summary

Learn more football vocabulary with Premier Skills English. Each lesson in our Premier Vocabulary section looks at one football word or phrase. This lesson looks at the phrase to take someone out. 

You can find more lessons on the side of this page.

Transcript

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to Premier Skills English - Premier Vocabulary.

Jack: Hi there! I’m Jack. We’re here to help you with your football English. Premier Vocabulary is a mini-podcast for you to learn football English one word at a time. 

Rich: We have three different levels for you: easy, medium and hard.

Jack: This episode is hard so we’re looking at more difficult football phrases and idioms. These phrases can be used to talk about football but are also useful when talking about other topics.

Rich: The phrase we are looking at in this episode is: to take someone out.

Jack: To take someone out is a phrasal verb that has more than one meaning. In fact, it has two very different meanings. One is nice and friendly and the other is ... well, it’s not friendly.

Rich: Let’s start with the friendlier meaning. To take someone out means to take someone for a day out or for a meal. It means to take someone with you for some entertainment.

Jack: If you take someone out, you usually treat them. This means that you pay for the meal or entertainment.

Rich: You might take someone out because they are feeling a bit sad about something to cheer them up or for a special occasion, or just for fun.

Jack: Last week, I was feeling a bit down because I was worried about something at work so my friend came over and took me out for a coffee and a chat.

Rich: It was my wedding anniversary yesterday. I surprised my wife and took her out for an Italian meal at that new restaurant in town.

Jack: The form take someone out when you mean accompany someone to a restaurant or for entertainment is fixed. You can’t say take out someone. 

Rich: No, the friendly version is fixed, but the unfriendly version is separable and that’s the version we use in football.

Jack: The other meaning of take someone out, the phrase which can be used in a football context, is to kill or disable someone.

Rich: You hear it in films about gangsters. When a crime boss orders one of his gang members to kill someone they say: I want you to take him out.

Jack: And you sometimes hear fans shouting the same thing at a football match when the other team’s leading goal scorer has the ball.

Rich: That’s a bit strong. In football, it doesn’t really mean kill or disable. It means tackle or rather stop. However, the focus is on the person and not the ball so if someone’s taken out on the football pitch it’s usually a foul.

Jack: Listen to these examples:

Rich: The referee said I was the last man and that I took him out, but I got the ball first.

Jack: I said it was a penalty because I nicked the ball before the defender took me out but the referee said no.

Rich: West Brom's Oliver Burke was flying through on goal and Southampton defender Jack Stephens comes sliding in and took him out at his ankle. 

Jack: To take someone out: This can mean to treat someone to a trip to a restaurant or some sort of entertainment.

Rich: Or to stop an attacking footballer in an aggressive way that’s usually a foul.

Jack: There is the final whistle!

Rich: We’ll be back soon with more Premier Vocabulary from Premier Skills English.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.

Comment

Discuss

When was the last time you took someone out somewhere nice?

Is it ever really necessary to take someone out on the football pitch?