Revised as of
10 July 2023
This particular confusion arose in a listserve I subscribe to and intrigued me. Enough so that I’m sticking it to you!
The trick with partake in is the in. Think of it as being involved, jumping in to negotiate, sitting in on meetings, etc.
As for partake of, I do love the juxtaposition of such a snooty phrase with its more slangy wolf down, and yet both mean the same thing. I do love words, and I so enjoy the English language . . .!
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Partake In | Partake Of |
|---|---|
A Man in Uniform at a Gathering with a Group of Young Women is courtesy of Wellcome Images under the CC BY 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — A man in uniform partaking in conversation with a group of young women in evening dress. |
“Let Freedom Ring” Event, 4 July 2012, US Army Garrison Humphreys, South Korea, by Cpl Han, Jae Ho and Mike Mooney is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Kids partaking of lots and lots of pie. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Verb, intransitive & transitive
Third person present verb: partakes in |
Verb, intransitive & transitive
Third person present verb: partakes of |
| Activities
Verb, intransitive: [Formal] To take or have a part or share an activity along with others
Verb, transitive:
Participate in, take part in, engage in, join in, enter into, get involved in, share in, contribute to, play a part in, have a hand in, sit in on |
Eat or drink OR an attribute
Verb, intransitive: To take or have a part or share food, drink, or a quality or attribute with others To receive, take, or have a share or portion To have something of the nature or character Have the qualities/attributes of, suggest, evoke, be characterized by, hint at, manifest, evince Verb, transitive:
Consume, have, eat, drink, take, ingest, devour [Informal] Wolf down, polish off, tuck into |
| Examples: | |
| Only senior officers are allowed to partake in the negotiations.
Visitors can partake in golfing or clay pigeon shooting. He won’t partake in the birthday celebration. Come along and partake in the excitement! |
Those averse to sushi can partake of the hot buffet.
The lyric essay partakes of the poem in its distillation of ideas and musicality of language. Would you care to partake of a case of beer with us? And each partook of the bread and wine offered unto him. |
| Derivatives: | |
|
Adjective: partakable, unpartaken, unpartaking Noun: partaker Verb, intransitive: prepartake, prepartook, prepartaken, prepartaking |
|
| History of the Word: | |
| Mid-16th century as a back-formation from earlier partaker meaning person who takes a part. | |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Partake In versus Partake Of
Apple Dictionary.com
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Ben’s Tailgate Party by Ben Vardi is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
