Learn Australian English in this Expression episode of Aussie English where I teach you how to use the expression TO TAKE SOMEONE FOR A RIDE.

AE 263 – Expression: To Take Someone For A Ride

G’day guys.

Welcome to this episode of English.

This is Episode 263.

As you may have noticed I’ve started adding numbers.

So I was chatting to someone in the Aussie English Virtual Classroom, and I’ve forgotten who it was, so forgive me for that, but they suggested that I put numbers at the start of this episode, or at the start of all episodes now, to make them a little easier to navigate.

So that you can sift through them.

So that you can sort through them.

So that you can find the different episodes more easily.

So I hope that helps guys, and forgive me for not having done that for the past year or so.

So what have I been up to this week?

This week I’ve been working on the PhD, obviously, (I’m) trying to get that written up and handed in.

So I’m trying to hand that in before my 30th birthday, which is in about 10 or so days.

So wish me luck.

Hopefully, I can get it done.

If not, I’ll do it as soon as possible.

Once that’s done obviously I can do a lot more Aussie English.

And yeah, I guess, to explain what has to happen I have to finish up writing, and then I have to submit it, and it will get reviewed by two anonymous and independent reviewers.

So people that I don’t know, and also people who don’t know each other, and have never worked with me.

So they have to be… how would you say, unbiased in their views.

So that that’ll probably take a month or two before I get the reviewed theses sent back to me.

Hopefully, I won’t have to make too many changes.

I might have to redo a few things.

I might have to rewrite some stuff.

I’m hoping I won’t have to reanalyse anything, but who knows that can happen.

And then once I’ve made those changes I may be able to just submit the final draft or the final version to the university.

Or if the reviewers have asked to see it again I’ll have to send it to them first, and then get their tick of approval for them to say, “Yep it’s ok now”, and then I can submit it.

So wish me luck.

I’m hoping to get that done soon.

Aside from just doing that this week there’s been stuff on the news relating to the floods following on from Cyclone Debbie.

So as you know from some of the previous episodes there was recently a cyclone that hit the coast of Queensland.

I think it was a Category 3 or 4 cyclone.

So it wasn’t as bad as it could be.

It could have been a cyclone Category 5, which I think is the worst.

We didn’t lose any lives in the cyclone, but unfortunately we did lose a few lives following on from the cyclone.

So there was some pretty tragic stories, like, I think there was an 11 year old boy who was boogie boarding down a hill when it was raining with a lot of his friends, and the rain was coming down and washing into a storm water drain, and the boy disappeared, and they ended up finding him a day later, tragically, he’d fallen down into this storm water drain, and the water was so powerful that it’d obviously sucked him down there, and he couldn’t get out and drowned.

And we also had a tragic story of a woman whose car somehow careened or careered off the road into some floodwaters, and her and her children passed away, well, they drowned in the water there, but fortunately one of her daughters escaped alive.

So it is pretty interesting where you have such a dangerous event like the cyclone hit Australia, and not kill any people in the event itself, but then following on from the cyclone you have things like all of this flooding, which can then tragically lead to two deaths.

But on the good side, on the positive side, of all of this we’ve seen a lot of people coming together and working together to clean up the neighbourhoods where you’ve had a lot of flooding.

So the rivers have obviously collected a lot of water that’s flowed down out of the mountains along these rivers, and they’ve broken their banks, meaning that the water has risen to such an extent that it’s flowed over the banks of these rivers and distributed or deposited a lot of mud into the surrounding land, you know.

So a lot of houses get their first floor flooded, and there’ll be mud put everywhere throughout the house.

And so, we have The Mud Army, I think that’s what they’re nicknamed in Queensland, where volunteers get together and work together to clean up the neighbourhood.

So they get rid of all the debris, they go through houses and clean all the mud out, wash that all out, and just generally help people who need help and may not have insurance or may not just be able to do it on their own.

So there’s been some touching stories on the news with regards to that recently.

Aside from that, there was also some funny stuff with some of the more dangerous animals in Australia.

So I remember seeing some photos going around of Bull sharks that had washed up on a road inland near a farm.

So Bull sharks are the most dangerous shark, I believe, when it comes to attacking humans, and these things are dangerous because they can live in brackish and even freshwater.

So unlike sharks like the Great White shark or Tiger sharks that require saltwater, they have to live in saltwater.

Bull sharks can actually swim up rivers and survive in freshwater.

And so, somehow some of these Bull sharks had gotten all the way up these rivers, and then washed up onto a road and died.

But it’s just frightening to think that in land you’ve got sharks potentially in rivers.

And then there was also a strange story about a crocodile in Queensland that ate someone’s dog.

So someone’s, I think it was a Border Collie, someone’s Border Collie was running too close to the floodwaters and got snatched up, got grabbed by a crocodile and there was a photo of it in its jaws.

So now a note to everyone if you have a dog and you’re in flooded land in Queensland after a flood where there’s crocodiles, keep an eye on your dog.

Maybe put it on a leash.

Well that’s probably enough for the intro, guys.

Let’s get into the crux of this episode.

Let’s get into the content.

So today’s episode is going to cover the expression “to take someone for a ride”, “to take someone for a ride.”

So we went over in the previous expression to take something with a pinch or a grain of salt.

This was in an expression episode 260.

So I’m not going to define the word “to take” in depth, because I’ve done that in Episode 260.

So as usual we’re going to go through the definition of different words.

But if you want a more thorough look at how to use the verb “to take” go and have a look at episode 260.

But in this example, “to take” here it means to bring or to lead someone somewhere.

So you can take someone for a walk.

You can take someone for a drive in a car.

You can take someone for a ride on a horse.

And you can also take someone for a holiday or take them for a roadtrip.

So the idea of bringing them somewhere, leading them somewhere, you’re taking them somewhere.

Also we have the word “ride”, and “a ride” is two different things in English.

Firstly, it’s a journey made on a horse, a bike, some kind of vehicle.

So it could be a car, a motorbike.

You could ride a truck.

You could ride a train.

You could ride a tram.

Whatever it is that you’re on that’s moving.

And that’s what it means in this sense, but it can also be something like a roller coaster or roundabout, an amusement ride at a fair or amusement park.

So if you were to go to Luna Park, which is, I think, the world’s oldest amusement park, and this is located in Melbourne.

It’s the one with the big white face where you have to walk through the mouth to get into it.

If you go to Luna Park and you get on some of these amusement rides, they’re rides.

They’re considered rides.

So a rollercoaster, that’s a good example of a ride.

So the definition of the expression “to take someone for a ride”.

How would we use this?

This can be used in both a literal and figurative way.

So the literal sense of the expression “to take someone for a ride” is to carry someone about, usually for recreation.

So you could take them on a car, you could take them on a plane, you could take them on a boat, and they’re going for a ride on that thing.

So for example, “Get in my car mate and we’ll go for a ride” or “Can you take us for a ride in your boat?”.

So that’s the literal meaning of “to take someone for a ride”.

It’s to take them on a journey in a vehicle of some kind or on some sort of transport.

But then we have the figurative version, and this is probably where you’re going to hear this quite a bit in English.

And it means to deceive someone, to trick someone, to con someone, or to cheat someone.

So that’s the figurative sense of the phrase “to take someone for a ride”.

So let’s go through some examples as usual guys so that you can better understand how you would use this expression in everyday English.

Examples:

1.

So example number one, and we’re going to go through a bit of slang here.

This is where you’re going to be learning Australian slang.

You’re getting a reno on your house, and a reno is a renovation, a renovation.

So you’ve hired a series of tradies to do the reno on your house.

You could hire an electrician, which is known as “a sparkie”, the slang term “sparkie”, you could hire a carpenter, which is “a chippie” if you use the slang term, “a chippie”, or you can hire a bricklayer, which is “a brickie”, “a brickie”.

A sparkie, a chippie and a brickie.

Or you could hire a plumber, but we don’t really have a slang term like “sparkie”, “chippie” or “brickie” for “plumber”.

You could probably use something more derogatory like “a dunny diver” suggesting that someone dives into toilets.

But yeah just call them “plumbers” for now.

So imagine you’ve hired these tradies to do a renovation on your house.

So they’re fixing up your house.

Maybe they’re putting a new room on your house or they’re giving your house a nicer bathroom.

And they end up charging you for more work than they actually did.

So they could potentially have charged you extra or maybe they charged you for twice as much time as they actually spent doing it.

Maybe they used some dodgy or sketchy materials.

So some cheap or unsafe materials or products when they were doing the reno.

Maybe they used inferior forms of plastic or wood or whatever the materials are that they are using, except they charge you for the expensive version.

So they’re trying to make money here.

That is an example of these people “taking you for a ride”.

They’ve ripped you off, you’ve been ripped off by these people, meaning they’ve charged you more money than you should’ve paid.

They’ve deceived you into paying more money than you should’ve.

You’ve been taken for a ride by these tradies.

You’ve been taken for a ride by the sparkie, the chippie, the brickie or the plumber or you could say they’ve taken you for a ride.

2.

Example number two.

So I imagine you are a teenager who has fallen madly in love with someone.

You’ve got a girlfriend or a boyfriend now, but you’re only 15 or 16 years old.

You want to spend the night at their house, but you know that your parents aren’t going to let you go and do that when you’re only 15 or 16 years old.

So you’ve set up this elaborate plan to trick your parents into allowing you to stay out that night, but you’re telling them that you’re staying at a friend’s house not the girlfriend or boyfriend’s house.

And to sort of make it work you’ve got your friend to come over to your house and tell your parents, “Oh yeah, he’s coming to our place. He’s staying the night at our house. It’s all good this weekend he’s coming and he’s staying at my place. We’re just having a little party with all the boys or with all the girls.”

So then when the night comes you actually go to your boyfriend or girlfriend’s house instead of this friend’s house that your parents believe you’re going to, and the next day you get home and no one’s the wiser.

No one’s the wiser, meaning no one is wise to what you did.

They don’t know anything.

They’re not wiser, as in they haven’t learnt about what’s happened.

So no one ever finds out.

And you’ve tricked your parents.

You’ve lied to your parents about what you were doing.

You’ve taken your parents for a ride.

You and your boyfriend or you and your girlfriend have taken your parents for a ride.

Your parents have been taken for a ride by you.

You’ve lied to them.

You’ve deceived them.

You’ve tricked them

You’ve conned them.

Although this example is not an example where it’s really malicious, so it’s not something where you’ve stolen anything or you’ve deceived them in a very very nasty kind of way, this is more like a white lie.

So you’ve done something you shouldn’t have.

It’s sort of naughty, but yeah, you got away with it.

You took them for a ride or they were taken for a ride by you.

3.

Example number three.

Maybe you meet someone and become really good friends with them, like, you know, you have those sort of instances some times where you meet someone for the first time, and they become a really good friend quickly, because you hit it off.

You click really well with this person, and it just feels like you’ve known them for a long time.

So say you’ve met this person at a party or something, maybe out in the street.

You’ve hit it off.

You think they’re really nice.

You guys get along well, and you invite them to a party at your house that same day.

And after the party you discover that some of your valuables, some of your possessions, have been stolen.

They’ve disappeared.

You can’t find them anywhere.

Maybe it’s an expensive camera.

Maybe it’s some money, some jewellery, whatever it is.

You ask around, and all of your friends say they have no idea.

They don’t know where it is.

And this new friend of yours is nowhere to be found.

So they’ve obviously left the party.

So you’re a little suss to it.

You’re suspicious.

You’re like, “I think this new person’s taken my things”.

So you try and call this new friend of yours, and they don’t answer the phone or you go to their place and they’re not there.

In that case, you could say they’ve shot through.

They’ve shot through.

They’ve run off.

They’ve disappeared.

And in the meantime, you’ve been ripped off for thousands of dollars worth of your belongings, your possessions, your valuables.

So they’ve ripped you off for the camera, some money, some jewellery, whatever it was.

In this instance, we can also use this expression “to be taken for a ride” or “to take someone for a ride”.

So in this case, the new friend of yours has taken you for a ride.

They’ve tricked you.

They’ve deceived you.

They’ve stolen from you.

They pretended to be your friends so that they could get invited to this party, well, or so that they ended up being invited to this party.

And then they’ve robbed you.

They’ve ripped you off.

They’ve stolen from you.

They’ve taken you for a ride or you’ve been taken for a ride by this person, this so-called friend.

They took you for a ride.

So hopefully by now guys you understand how to use the expression “to take someone for a ride”.

And remember this can be used in all forms of English, not just Australian English, but you could use this in America, in Britain, in Canada.

Everyone’s going to understand what “to be taken for a ride” means.

So as usual guys let’s do a little listen and repeat exercise.

So listen and repeat after me to practice your pronunciation.

If you’re trying to nail an Australian accent really focus in on how I’m saying it.

Otherwise, just use the accent that you are working on.

So let’s go.

Listen and repeat:

I took him for a ride.

You took him for a ride.

He took him for a ride.

She took him for a ride.

We took him for a ride.

They took him for a ride.

All right guys, good job.

I might just mention here, before we finish up, a little bit about the connected speech and pronunciation used in this phrase.

“I took_(h)im for_a ride”, “You took_(h)im for_a ride”, etc.

So there are two interesting things going on here.

We have the H-deletion, which is where the H at the beginning of words is removed and the consonant or the sound that the word before the word with H ends with carries on over onto the next word.

So for example, took_(h)im, took_(h)im.

I’ve removed the H on him and it just sounds like took_(h)im took_(h)im.

And this happens with “her” as well.

For instance, took_(h)er, took_(h)er.

So some examples of H deletion.

Here are some phrases:

“I took_(h)er some food.”

“Did_(h)e call you?”

So I haven’t said, “Did he call you?”.

I say “Did_(h)e call you?”

“It_(h)as happened before”.

Instead of saying “It has happened before”, you’ll hear me say “it_(h)as” or just “it’s”.

But in this case “it_(h)as”.

“It_(h)as happened before”.

And then also “We_(h)ave a lot to do today”.

“We_(h)ave a lot to do today”.

So instead of “We have a lot to do today”, I’ve said “we_(h)ave a lot to do today.

So that’s examples of H-deletion.

And we’re going to go over some exercises to teach you to do this naturally in the bonus content for this episode.

Also we have R-insertion.

So when we say “for a ride” I actually say “for_a ride”.

So I take the ah from the end of the word “for” and I put it at the start of the word “A”.

So “for_a”.

This is very Australian.

So I’m not 100% sure about British accents and whether or not they do this.

They might.

But I know that North American accents usually pronounce the R anyway at the end of words.

Whereas in Australian English, we wouldn’t pronounce the R at the ends of words.

So in the case of “plumber” I say “plumbah” instead of “plumber”, which is how an American would say it.

And the same with the word “for”.

Usually, I say it as “fo(r)”.

There there’s no R there unless the next word begins with a vowel.

So that’s when I would say “for_a”, “for_a”, just to make it flow.

So some examples of R insertion.

Here are some sentences.

“Thanks for_everything”.

See how that flows instead of me saying, “Thanks for everything”, I say “Thanks for_everything”.

“That’s for_(h)im”.

Instead of saying “That’s for him”, I say “That’s for_(h)im”.

“Look for_an elephant”, “Look for_an elephant”.

So instead of saying, “Look for an elephant”, I say “Look for_an elephant”.

So I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode, guys.

Remember if you want the bonus content sign up for the Aussie English Supporter Pack.

It’s only a dollar to try it for a month.

And when you sign up you’ll get access to a heap of other exercises that go over words, expressions, slang terms, points of grammar, as well as connected speech and pronunciation that’s used in the episode, in this expression episode, that you’ve just listened to.

So anyway guys, all the best and I’ll chat to you soon.

Hope you have a great week.

See ya!