Take over means to start doing work, duties or management that someone else was responsible for before. It is used when work passes from one person to another: a colleague goes on leave, and you handle their projects. The second meaning is to buy a company and gain control of it.
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take over + task/project/company; take over from + person; take + it + over
- When Anna went on maternity leave, I took over her clients for six months.
- Can you take over from me at the reception desk while I have lunch?
- A large German company took over a small bakery chain last year.
What changed
First versionNext week I will accept the project from Mark.
RevisionNext week I will take over the project from Mark.
Accept can look like the right verb for receiving a project from a colleague, but accept the project means agreeing to do a project. When you start doing work in place of another person, use take over: take over the project from Mark.
Take on is also about new work, but without a handover: you simply agree to do one more task. I can't take on another project this month. Take over implies that someone else was doing the work before you.
Your turn
Tom is leaving the company, so Lena will ___ from him as head of sales.
Show the answer
take over — Lena will replace Tom as head of sales, so his responsibilities pass to her: take over from him. In this sense, take on does not combine with from and does not show that a role passes from one person to another.
Write about a time you handed over or received work, for example before a holiday or when changing jobs. Name the task and the person it passed from or to.
Before my summer holiday, my colleague Dmitry took over the weekly client reports from me.
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