Each week The Old Editor will attempt to address your entreaties for information and advice on grammar and usage, writing, writer-editor etiquette, and related subjects.
The Old Editor does not address marital and relationship matters, dietary questions, or automobile mechanics.
The question: "I am one of your many groupies (uh, followers?) on Facebook and love reading your take on many things. So, what's your take on 'take a decision'? I always 'made' decisions (don't know where I would "take" them, honestly…). I notice this usage mostly in British media, but I'm seeing it spill out on this side of the Pond, too. How did this happen? Will we just have to accept it, or should we rail against it?
Thanks for your insights."
The Old Editor answers: If you do not already know M Lynne Murphy's delightful blog on British-American English, separated by a common language, I heartily commend it to you. (She is also on Twitter as @lynneguist.) She addressed this issue in a post in 2006.
The short answer is that make and take are light verbs that need a complement. Decide will do on its own, but you make a decision or take a decision. Generally, Ms. Murphy says, make a decision is American English, take a decision British.
She supplies a series of light-verb patterns divided by the Atlantic. Americans make copies; Brits take copies. Americans take a shower; Brits have a shower or bath. Americans take vacations; Brits are more likely to have holidays. Check out her post.
But spillover does happen. And if you discover an American taking decisions, you will have to make a judgment. Is it affectation? You know, like the Episcopal priest who comes back from six weeks at Canterbury sounding (he thinks) like an Old Etonian. How cosmopolitan are your readers? Do they read British murder mysteries or gush over Downton Abbey? You might get away with it. But if you think that it will sound off-key to the reader, you should probably change it to 'Murrican.
Got a question for The Old Editor? Write to him at john.mcintyre@baltsun.com. Your name will not be used unless you specifically authorize it.