To bring or to take? (British English)

Question

I have a question about the use of these verbs, “bring” and “take”, in two specific situations.
1_‘The postman took the letter to my house.’
(context: I was not at home when saying this, but I was when the postman took the letter to my house.)
Should I use "take" or "bring"?
2_‘The postman took the letter to the train station.’
(context: I am saying this at the train station, but I was at the airport when the postman took the letter there.)
Again, should I use "take" or "bring"?
Thanks for any help!
P.S.: “…took the letter there.”, is it grammatical?

Edwin Ashworth · Answer

There's an interesting twist in this question. Identifying the deictal centre is not easy in situation (1). Is it [out; time of speaking] or [in; time of delivery]? I believe it can be user-defined in this case.
Context will usually decree [place where speaking; time when speaking], so you are free to use 'brought' to indicate succinctly that you were in ('brought ... to my house') when the letter arrived.
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In (2), I'd say 'took' doesn't work at all. A 'though I wasn't here; I was at the airport at the time' caveat would be necessary to point out you were elsewhere when the letter arrived at the station.
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'There' can be used as a directional, just like prepositional phrases, after say V + NP (threw the ball / sent the parcel ...):
(took the parcel to the hospital / into the shop / across the Channel / home / there ...).
It can sometimes sound a little weak (I sent my clothes, my books, my furniture, and even  my unrivalled collection of foreign coins there).

To bring or to take? (British English)

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