Can we also say “take milk” and “take coke” and “take Mountain Dew” to mean “drink…”? Thanks in advance.

"to take XYZ" is how you say that you are taking medicine or a prescribed drug--this doesn't necessarily mean drinking a liquid, it could be taking a pill or something else "to take a drink (of XYZ)" is taking one taste/sip/swig from a cup or can "to have a drink/XYX" is having the whole unit of a cup/beverage If you're an adult, saying "having a drink" by itself usually means "having alcohol" Imagining someone saying "I'm taking milk" or "I'm taking Mountain Dew" is hilarious. It sounds like you're saying a doctor prescribed milk or Mountain Dew to you.

I think "take a drink" only works because "drink" is also a verb. See also similar phrases like "take a walk" or "take a nap". So it doesn't make sense to substitute a particular drink in the phrase to make something like "take milk" or "take coke"

No

You would say, "Take *a sip of* milk", or "Take *a drink of* milk" "Take milk" doesn't mean drink.

You definitely don't want to say "Take coke", as that would be indicative of the drug rather then the drink. "Take a coke" meanwhile would be more clearly the beverage, as the sentence is referring to something singular (a bottle/can of Coca-Cola).

To “take milk/coke/Mountain Dew” is a phrase you would use when asking someone for a specific drink. Like: “What would you like to drink?” “I’ll take coke, thanks.” You can also say “take a coke” or “have a coke,” but all refer to asking for the beverage, not drinking the beverage.

I'd only say "take" meaning "to consume" in the case of medicine, as in "taking my pills". Other than that case, I'd only ever say "drink".

No

"Take a drink" suggests a partial consumption, "have a drink" suggests a potential complete consumption.

You can use take a drink to refer generally to having a sip of a drink. Importantly take a drink always refer to a specific drink, be it a soda, or a beer, or something else. However, take a soda, or take a beer, meaning to have a sip of soda or beer, is not an expression that’s used. However - and this is where it’s confusing - “have beer” or “have a beer” can refer to the act of getting a can of beer and drinking it. It also refers generally to the act of consuming the beer. But it doesn’t refer to taking an individual sip of the beer. And its less common to use it in the present tense, in practice it’s usually “I’ve had a beer” or “i will to have a beer”

I'll take a Coke. Means you have been offered a drink and you choose Coke. You say "I drank Coke." "I'm drinking Coke." Etc You can say "I took a sip of Coke." But, it must always be 'took' and 'sip' together. Australia

"Take a drink" is using "drink" as a verb, as in "I take a drink of water" If you were to say "take a milk" you'd be using the milk as a verb, which wouldn't make any sense. It also wouldn't work in the example I gave before, because you can't "take a milk of water" A better way to say it would be "I take a drink of milk" or "I take a sip of milk"

In general no. I know in Spanish for example tomar (usually translated as to take) is used for having a drink, but in English we don't use take like that. You might say "take a drink of..." Something which implies taking a sip. But otherwise we'd totally use "have" as in "I'm having a coke", "let's have soda", or "I had a beer", etc.

While I might say "I'll take milk" when I order it, I would probably say "take a drink or take a sip of milk" for drinking. "Take milk" reminds of me of breastfeeding or bottle feeding. "The baby is taking milk well" or "The baby isn't taking" are phrases I've heard before.

"Take a drink" IMPLIES a quick shot of alcohol to relieve stress, anxiety, or celebration. "Have a drink" IMPLIES a more leisurely consumption, PERHAPS without any agenda but enjoyment. Similarly "Take some milk" IMPLIES a quick drink of milk to alleviate some problem, such as stomach upset. "Have some milk" IMPLIES a more liesurely consumption for enjoyment alone. "Take some coke" is not used. "Have a coke" IMPLIES liesurely consumption for enjoyment. These phrases are nuanced. They are spoken and understood in a larger immediate social context.

If you are a Spanish speaker I'll warn you 'tomar' is not a perfect match for 'take'.

I think you can say that in Indian English but not American English.

"Take milk" isn't drinking. It's the act of obtaining milk into your possession, ie, pouring yourself a glass of milk. It doesn't inherently mean *drinking* though. That said we would typically say "take a drink" or "take a coke out of the fridge" not simply "take coke" Now we DO *take* medicine. But that's somewhat unique and is more of a compound phrase of sorts.

“What can I get you to drink?” “I’ll just take water.” “I’ll take a Mountain Dew” Only connotation difference is that “take a drink” sounds more like a command while “have a drink” sounds more like an invitation

This is likely specific to British English, but you could for example ask someone "Do you take tea or coffee?". It is analogous to asking "Do you (generally) drink tea or coffee?", but can also be used to ask someone's preferences when offering to make them something. I think at this point this usage is confined to older generations, and is only used to refer to these beverages as far as I know.

"Take" is a weird one because it can serve quite a few purposes. Sometimes it means 'consume' and sometimes it means physically picking up a thing. I think the confusion here might be that, in the "take a drink" example, the word "drink" is a verb, not a noun. It's referring to the action of drinking, not the actual liquid, if that makes sense. So you couldn't substitute "he took a drink" for "he took a coffee", but you could say "he took a drink of coffee". "Take a *sip*" would be the more common way to phrase it, though. "He took a coffee" or "he took a Mountain Dew" would refer to the act of picking up the cup or bottle, not drinking from it. E.g. "he took a Mountain Dew from the vending machine". One pitfall here is that, *specifically* for medicine that you swallow, you can just say "take X", e.g. "he took cough syrup". Interestingly, people also used to use this for alcohol too, e.g. newspapers saying "drink had been taken" as a euphemism for "everyone got super drunk", though this is super old-fashioned and nobody says it anymore.

No

Take a drink is treating the word drink as a verb. Its describing the action of putting liquid in your face once. The mistake you've made is you've assumed it was in its noun form describing a specific liquid you can drink. Instead, you will say "take a drink" then add a description to that by saying "of milk/coke/ambrosia".

“A drink” in this context can’t be replaced by a specific drink, it just means taking a sip of a drink in general.

They are often used in the same way. Sometimes there are nuances in the context where they mean slightly different things. Sometimes, based on the context, they mean very different thing. I would say that it's highly context dependent and difficult to answer without concrete examples to work from.

No.

Pretty sure you'd say "take *a drink of* [beverage]". Using "take" the way you're talking about is usually in reference to medicine or drugs, i.e. "go *take* your cold medicine" or "*taking* party drugs", etc etc. It's kind of weird honestly, and there are even more ways "take" is used! "*take* a seat" would be telling someone to sit somewhere, "*take* a look" would be telling someone to either look at something or examine something depending on the context. It's really weird now that I think about it.

Generally taking a drink refers to a shot of an alcoholic beverage, and definitely don't tell someone you're taking coke, as coke is also slang for cocaine (hard drugs)

Do NOT say take coke if you’re referring to having a drink of Coca-Cola because “take coke” means you’re doing cocaine