Take

Question

Cars take us anywhere quickly.If 'take' were replaced with 'drive' as: Cars drive us anywhere quickly.would it still sound natural and make the same sense?

RandomGuy · Accepted Answer

No, the car doesn't drive you; you drive the car.

Anonymous · Answer

The first sentence seems better, at first glance. However, another way of looking at this is that neither sentence is really natural, because you wouldn't say such things in real life in the sense of cars being able to transport us anywhere quickly (the idea that cars can transport us anywhere quickly is so well-established that it would be unusual to state this fact in real-life speech - this would be like suddenly stating that the sky is blue).

The above being the case, taking a second look at the sentences, if you're going to insist on using such sentences in real-life speech, then the second sentence would actually be the better one to use. The first one is so obvious that it would sound strange in real-life speech. So the second one, with its rather unusual syntax, wouldn't register so quickly with a listener. He'd have to think about what you mean and kind of wonder about it (in this age of computerized cars a car that drives you somewhere quickly might not be so far-fetched: there are apparently prototype cars today that can drive themselves).

Taka · Answer

Aspara GusNo, the car doesn't drive you; you drive the car.

But this one is OK, right?

He drove me to the building.

RandomGuy · Answer

TakaBut this one is OK, right?
He drove me to the building.

Yes.

Taka · Answer

Good. Thanks!

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