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TOEIC Link Part 5: lend versus borrow

Lend means to give something temporarily; borrow means to take something temporarily. Part 5 tests the direction of the transaction, so reading who gives and who takes decides the answer.

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TOEIC Link Part 5: lend versus borrow

Lend and borrow describe the same transaction from opposite ends, and that is exactly the confusion Part 5 exploits. They are both verbs, so part of speech will not save you here — the test is direction. Lend means to give something to someone temporarily; borrow means to take something from someone temporarily. Decide who is giving and who is taking, and the answer follows. For another pair where you have to read the relationship rather than the part of speech, see accept versus except.

The core rule: give versus take

  • lend means to give temporarily (the thing leaves you): The bank lends money to small businesses. / Could you lend me your charger? / They lent us a meeting room for the afternoon.
  • borrow means to take temporarily (the thing comes to you): Small businesses borrow money from the bank. / May I borrow your charger? / We borrowed a meeting room for the afternoon.

A memory hook: the lender is the leader of the transaction — they have the item and hand it out. The borrower brings the item back later. If the subject of the sentence owns the item and is handing it over, use lend; if the subject does not own it and is receiving it, use borrow.

How to read the slot

The grammar around each verb is different, and that is your fastest clue.

  • lend + person + thing, or lend + thing + to + person: The library lends patrons up to ten books. / The library lends books to patrons.
  • borrow + thing + from + person: Patrons borrow books from the library. Note that borrow never takes to; the preposition that pairs with it is from.

So the prepositions are a giveaway: a to (giving direction) after the slot points to lend, and a from (taking direction) after the slot points to borrow.

Common Part 5 traps

  • The preposition test. (blank) money to new clients → lend (gives). (blank) money from the bank → borrow (takes). The preposition often decides the answer on its own.
  • Banks and institutions usually lend. A bank, library, or company is normally the source, so it lends; the customer or member borrows. Read who the subject is.
  • lend is the irregular one. Its past form is lent (not "lended"). Borrow is regular: borrowed. A past-tense slot may show this spelling.
  • Do not translate one-to-one. Many languages use a single word for both directions, so the pair is a classic interference error. Always anchor on who gives and who takes.

Quick check

Decide whether the subject is giving (lend) or taking (borrow), then choose.

  1. Employees may (blank) equipment from the IT department for up to a week.
  2. The firm agreed to (blank) its conference room to the local nonprofit.
  3. She had to (blank) a calculator from a colleague during the exam.
  4. The credit union (blank) money to members at a lower rate.

Answers: 1. borrow (takes, from) 2. lend (gives, to) 3. borrow (takes, from) 4. lends (gives, to).

The takeaway

Lend and borrow are two ends of one transaction, so ignore the fact that both are verbs and read the direction: when the subject owns the item and hands it over — often with to — you want lend, and when the subject receives the item from someone else — with from — you want borrow. Let the preposition and the owner of the item decide. For more pairs where reading the relationship beats reading the dictionary, see advice versus advise and affect versus effect.