Meaning & use
take the minutes
Last updated
Meaning
phrasefixed phrase
to write the official record of what is said and decided at a meeting
Grammar: Used with a person as subject; often followed by 'at' or 'for' a meeting: She took the minutes at the board meeting.
Patterns
- take the minutes at a meeting
- take the minutes for a meeting
- someone takes the minutes
Could you take the minutes at tomorrow's staff meeting?
I took the minutes for the whole two-hour session and typed them up afterwards.
Who usually takes the minutes when the chair is away?
Common combinations
- take the minutes of a meeting
- She was asked to take the minutes of the committee meeting.
- take minutes
- One of the new interns will take minutes during the discussion.
- the minutes of the meeting
- The minutes of the meeting were approved without changes.
- keep the minutes
- Please keep the minutes in the shared folder.
Synonyms and how they differ
- record
- A more general verb; 'record' can mean making any written or electronic note, while 'take the minutes' specifically means writing the official notes of a meeting.
Word family
- minute-taker noun
- The person whose job is to write the official notes at a meeting.
- minutes noun
- The official written record of a meeting.
Commonly confused: take the minutes or take a minute?
take the minutes vs take a minute
This means to spend a short amount of time, not to write meeting notes. Compare: 'I'll take a minute to check' and 'I'll take the minutes at the meeting.'
Practice
At the end of the meeting, the chair asked me to ______ the minutes.
Choose one answer.
The fixed phrase is 'take the minutes'. 'Make the minutes' and 'do the minutes' are not used, and 'write the minutes' is possible but less idiomatic for the official task.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “take the minutes”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.