Meaning

(a) HAVE A VERB

We can say I walked in the garden after lunch yesterday or I walked in the garden from dawn until dusk yesterday. The periphrastic construction have a walk is possible in the first instance, I had a walk in the garden after lunch yesterday, but not in the second; one would not use have a walk with from dawn until dusk. Similarly, one can say We ran around the oval until the rain began but scarcely *We had a run around the oval until the rain began.

Looking now at locational specification, we can say walk in the park or walk from Oxford to Reading. The first is fine for have a walk but not the second; have a walk would not be used with a definite statement of journey or destination, such as from Oxford to Reading. Similarly, one could say have a swim in the river but scarcely *have a swim across the river.

It appears that there is no periphrastic HAVE A construction corresponding to a basic sentence describing some activity that is related to a time or space limitation, or that is being used to achieve some goal. The HAVE A construction emphasizes the activity, and the fact that the subject indulges in it for a certain period. The subject is not trying to walk or swim to get anywhere, they are just ‘having a walk’ or ‘having a swim’. One could say that an element of the meaning of the HAVE A construction is ‘do it a bit’. Indeed, it is common to insert a bit of between a and the verb, e.g. We had a bit of a walk/talk/think.

It is possible to have a long walk or have a long laugh or have a short swim. The adjective indicates that the subject indulged in the activity for a long or short time (or over a long or short distance)—but they are still just walking or whatever because they want to, rather than to get anywhere or for any other purpose.

The verb stroll refers to ‘slow, leisurely walking, with no desire to arrive somewhere’. This accords well with the meaning of HAVE A. In fact, stroll is one of the verbs most frequently used in the HAVE A construction.

HAVE A always describes some volitional act and the subject must be human (or perhaps a higher animal). We can say That child had a roll down the grassy bank (when they were doing it on purpose, for fun) but not *That stone had a roll down the grassy bank. The volitional element is brought out by comparison between slip, which refers to an unwanted, uncontrolled activity, and slide, which can refer to something done voluntarily, for pleasure. One may say She had a slide on the ice but not *She had a slip on the ice (or, if the latter is possible, it must be an instance of the Experiencer have construction).

HAVE A describes something done ‘a bit’, done voluntarily. And we have said that it is an activity the subject indulges themself in—if not for pleasure, then for relief. Suppose someone is upset, and holding back tears. We might encourage them: Go on, you have a cry. That is: you indulge in the activity of crying, for a period, for the relief it will provide. Similarly have a grumble (you’ll feel better after it) or have a sit-down (after all, you’ve been standing up all morning).

It is interesting that one often hears Have a sit-down or Have a lie-down but seldom Have a stand-up. The last example is perfectly possible; it is just that the circumstances for its use do not readily arise. It can, however, easily be contextualized. Suppose a lot of people are sitting or squatting in a restricted space, some getting cramps, and there is room for just one person at a time to stand up. The leader might say: Go on Tom, you have a stand-up now (that is, indulge yourself for a while in the activity of standing up).

In summary, the HAVE A construction carries meaning elements: (i) something done voluntarily, by the subject; (ii) to indulge themself in something they enjoy doing, or which provides relief; (iii) the activity being done ‘for a bit’, at the subject’s whim (rather than to achieve any transcendental goal).

(b) give a verb

We can distinguish two subtypes of the GIVE A VERB construction: (I) involving an NP (with noun or pronoun as head) as first object, before the NP consisting of a plus verb base, e.g. She gave me a punch/push/kiss/ smile/look; (II) where the only NP following give is a plus verb base—this occurs with some verbs from the CORPOREAL type and from the SHOUT subtype of SPEAKING, e.g. He gave a laugh/cry/sob/sigh/cough/shout.

Some of the restrictions on the GIVE A construction are similar to those on HAVE A. We can say She looked at him all day but not *She gave him a look all day, and I pushed the car all the way home but not *I gave the car a push all the way home. It is acceptable to say I gave the child a carry while going up that hill on the way to town but scarcely *I gave the child a carry to town. From these and similar data we can infer that the GIVE A construction refers to the subject doing something at their own whim, for a certain period, and not to satisfy any external goal (as expressed by all day, to town, etc.).

There is a subtle difference between the HAVE A and GIVE A constructions. We have already said that HAVE A implies ‘do it for a bit’. If a certain verb refers to some activity that can be done in incremental units, then GIVE A plus that verb is likely to refer to just one unit of the activity. Give a laugh most often relates to a single ‘ha’, whereas have a laugh could describe someone laughing for a minute or two at something they found excruciatingly funny. Give a cry (or sob) is likely to be a single sob, whereas have a cry could be someone crying their heart out, for as long as it took to relieve some condition of distress. A trainer might say to a boxer: Go on, you have a punch of the punchball now; this invites them to rain punches on it for a reasonable period of time. But if the trainer said: Go on, you give it a punch, just a single hit might be expected. The difference is apparent even with pull and push, which describe activities that are most often continuous. You have a pull of the rope could be realized by the addressee pulling for a few minutes, whereas You give the rope a pull might relate to a single tug. The verb jerk generally refers to a single unit of pulling; note that we can say Give it a jerk but not *Have a jerk of it. (It is sometimes possible to use a bit of with give, if the underlying verb can refer to a continuous activity—Give it a bit of a pull has a meaning very similar to Have a bit of a pull of it. The important point is that when a bit of is not included, the GIVE A construction is likely to refer to a single unit of activity.)

Like HAVE A, the GIVE A construction of type (I) is limited to human subjects acting with volition. If Mary were walking past John then He bumped her could describe either a purposeful or an accidental bump but He gave her a bump must refer to something done on purpose.

Let us turn now to a critical semantic difference between HAVE A and GIVE A constructions. Consider:

(5a) Mary looked at John (through the window)

(5b) Mary had a look at John (through the window)

(5c) Mary gave John a look (through the window)

Sentence (5b) describes Mary indulging herself in looking at John, for a period; it is immaterial whether or not John realizes that he is being observed. Sentence (5c), in contrast, describes Mary communicating with John—she gives him a look and he notices it. It could be a look of warning, of invitation, of loathing, or of love.

The GIVE A construction of type (I) describes something being ‘transferred’ from subject to object (a metaphorical extension of the ‘transfer of possession’ in lexical use of give)—that is, the object must be affected by the activity.

Give a carry can have a human object as in I gave the child a carry; the child is affected by this beneficial gesture (it does not now have the effort of walking on its own). But it would be quite infelicitous to say *I gave the suitcase a carry, since the suitcase would not be affected by being carried. The GIVE A construction can involve a verb with an inanimate object, but there is always an implication that the object is affected in some way, e.g. give the table a wipe (it was dirty before and is now clean), give the door a kick (say, to break it down), give the pudding a warm (to make it more palatable), give the car a push (to get it to start), give the rope a pull (to try to dislodge the end from where it is trapped).

The verb smile has two senses: (i) showing amusement at something, e.g. smile at Zelig’s antics; (ii) using the gesture to communicate with someone, e.g. smile at Mary. The first sense is similar to laugh in laugh at Zelig’s antics, the second to wink in wink at Mary. Now smile can occur in both HAVE A and GIVE A constructions. But it is the first sense that is involved with HAVE A, e.g. Tom had a smile at Zelig’s antics, where Tom is indulging himself in smiling, for a period, at something he finds funny (whether Zelig knows that his antics have evinced a smile is immaterial). And it is the second sense of smile that is involved in a GIVE A construction of type (I), e.g. Tom gave Mary a smile; use of this sentence implies that Mary did notice the smile. Laugh, parallel to the first sense of smile, occurs just with HAVE A but not with the GIVE A construction of type (I), e.g. Tom had a laugh at Zelig’s antics but not *Tom gave Mary a laugh. And wink, parallel to the second sense of smile, takes just GIVE A, e.g. Tom gave Mary a wink but not *Tom had a wink at Zelig’s antics. The two senses of smile are, in fact, parallel to the two senses of look (one contemplative, one communicative) illustrated in (5b) and (5c).

It may be useful to give one further example of the semantic difference between HAVE A and GIVE A. The verb stroke can occur in:

(6a) Go on, you have a stroke of it!

(6b) Go on, you give it a stroke!

Now consider two scenarios. In the first a friend has bought a new fur coat, which you admire. She invites you to stroke it. Would she be more likely to use sentence (6a) or (6b)? In the second scenario a friend’s cat brushes against you. The friend knows that you like cats and encourages you to stroke it. Again, would she use (6a) or (6b)?

Native speakers prefer sentence (6b) for stroking a cat and (6a) for stroking a fur coat. The GIVE A construction is used when the object is likely to be affected by the action—the cat will probably enjoy being stroked, and may purr in response. The HAVE A construction is appropriate for stroking a coat; the garment is unaffected and in this instance it is simply the stroker who is indulging themself.

In summary, the GIVE A construction, type (I), carries the following meaning elements: (i) something done voluntarily by the subject; (ii) to ‘transfer’ something to an object, either affecting the object in some physical way, or communicating with another person; (iii) the activity being ‘done a bit’, at the subject’s whim—and often, if the verb refers to an activity that can be incremental, just one unit of the activity is performed. (Note that the ‘one unit’ interpretation does not always apply, e.g. give the cat a stroke could refer to as long or longer a period of stroking as have a stroke of the fur coat.)

We can now look at GIVE A construction type (II), where there is no object NP of the underlying verb. Semantic characteristic (iii) certainly applies: give a laugh/cry/cough/shout/roar is likely to refer to a single corporeal gesture in contrast to have a laugh/cry/cough/shout/roar, which is likely to refer to someone indulging in the activity for as long as they need.

Semantic characteristic (ii) applies in an indirect way in that an act of communication may be involved (as it never could be with HAVE A). Someone may give a cough to warn a friend to be careful in what they say, or give a hollow laugh to show that they don’t think much of what has just been said; and similarly with give a sigh, give a whistle. In these circumstances the activity is voluntary, according with (i). It is, however, possible for someone to give a cough (or a laugh) spontaneously, without planning to do so; and we can also have a non-human subject, as in The machine gave a long hiss/a loud bang and suddenly stopped. It appears that the second type of GIVE A construction does not necessarily carry meaning element (i), that the subject acts in a volitional manner.

(c) TAKE A VERB

The lexical verb ‘take’ refers to a unit of activity that is volitional and premeditated; it involves physical effort, e.g. She took the bottle out of the fridge, He took his shirt off.

The periphrastic TAKE A VERB construction has relatively limited use in British English, being restricted to a subset of those verbs that occur in the HAVE A construction. We will show that there are definite semantic differences between TAKE A and the HAVE A and GIVE A constructions. We will also show that the meaning of TAKE A shows some similarities to the lexical meaning of take.

Like HAVE A and type (I) of GIVE A, TAKE A refers to some volitional activity, done for its own sake (rather than to meet some external goal). Like HAVE A there is no overtone of a ‘transfer’, with the object being affected by the activity, which we identified for GIVE A.

TAKE A is like GIVE A—and contrasts with HAVE A—in often referring to a ‘single unit’ of activity. Both HAVE A and TAKE A can be used with smell and sniff but take a sniff of it seems a little more felicitous than have a sniff of it (because the verb sniff generally refers to a single inhalation) whereas have a smell of it is preferred over take a smell of it (since smell is likely to refer to an action extended in time, with many inhalations). TAKE A is particularly at home with bite and swallow—activities that have to be performed incrementally—and generally refers to a single unit of activity. But with verbs like taste and suck—referring to non-segmented activities—TAKE A sounds odd; have a taste and have a suck would be preferred. The ‘unit’ interpretation of TAKE A is most noticeable with CORPOREAL verbs but can also appear with verbs from other types. One may take a walk around the lake—the perimeter of the lake is a ‘unit’ walking course—in contrast to have a walk in the park—where the subject just walks ‘for a bit’.

One important aspect of the meaning of TAKE A is that there is often physical effort involved on the part of the subject. Suppose Maggie is a small child playing off to one side; all you have to do is turn your head to look at her. I might suggest Have a look at Maggie!, if she is doing something cute. But if Maggie were asleep in her cot in another room and I wanted you to make sure she was all right, I would be likely to use the TAKE A construction (since you will have to move in order to check up on her), e.g. Could you go and take a look at Maggie? Indeed, it is normal to say Have a look at this but Take a look at that, since more exertion is likely to be involved in looking at ‘that’ than at ‘this’.

The ‘physical effort’ component explains why one can use TAKE A with walk or swim but not with sit down; with kick or bite but not with think, talk, laugh, cry or cough (HAVE A can be used with all these verbs).

TAKE A often refers to a premeditated action, whereas HAVE A may be used for something done on the spur of the moment. One is likely to plan to take a stroll (e.g. We always take a stroll after lunch on Sundays) but one could just have a stroll at whim (e.g. We had a stroll around the garden while we were waiting for you to get ready).

In summary, the TAKE A VERB construction carries the meaning elements: (i) something done voluntarily, by the subject; (ii) often a definite premeditated activity; (iii) generally involving some physical effort on the part of the subject; (iv) just one unit of the activity being completed.

It was noted that there is a strong correlation (but not a coincidence) between transitivity and the use of HAVE A/TAKE A versus GIVE A. This has a semantic basis.

Type (I) of the GIVE A VERB construction refers to something being ‘transferred’ to an object. Plainly, transitive verbs, which refer to activities that link subject and object, are prototypical fillers of the ‘VERB’ slot. We also find that GIVE A occurs with a few inherent preposition verbs like look at, and with a few others like smile and wink where there is an ‘addressee’ marked with a preposition.

HAVE A and TAKE A just refer to the subject indulging in or taking part in some activity, for their own sake. It is natural that they should occur mostly with intransitive verbs. There are also a fair number of occurrences with transitive verbs, describing the subject indulging in doing something with respect to a particular object. With some of these verbs a preposition can intrude before the O NP in the basic sentence, and carries over into the periphrastic construction (e.g. kick at the door, have a kick at the door). With others of is inserted before the transitive object just in the HAVE A or TAKE A construction (e.g. have a lick of the ice-cream).

We mentioned transitive verbs that may omit a reflexive or reciprocal pronoun, e.g. transitive shave (someone) and the inherently reflexive intransitive shave (sc. oneself); transitive kiss (someone) and the inherently reciprocal intransitive kiss (sc. each other). As might be predicted, the transitives occur with GIVE A and the intransitives with HAVE A. Thus, John gave Fred/himself a shave and John had a shave (this is in fact ambiguous between the HAVE A construction, where John does the shaving, and the Experiencer have construction, when it is related to The barber shaved John, John had a shave at the barber’s). With Mary gave John a kiss we see that John is affected by the activity, which would be expected to be a single kiss. This contrasts with John and Mary had a kiss—they are indulging themselves in the activity of kissing, for a period of time.

In final summary, the semantic conditions for the GIVE A construction, involving ‘transfer’ from one participant to another, are similar to the characterization of a transitive verb (i.e. that there be two core semantic roles). This is why the great majority of verbs taking GIVE A are transitive. The semantic conditions for HAVE A and TAKE A are that the activity be focused on, not its effect on any object; this is why most verbs occurring in these construction types are intransitive.