student asking question

I suppose the word "gather" and "collect" are similar terms in the concept of accumulating something. But are they interchangeable?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

They are similar! But no, they are not interchangeable. In some contexts, they are, like this one. However, the term "gather" means to move into one spot. Whereas "collect" does not relate to location. You can collect items and have them placed separately. Ex: I have collections of art all over the world! Ex: Gather the team together so I can talk to them. Ex: This is the information we have gathered from numerous sources, all here on one document. Ex: I want to start collecting baseball cards. Will you help me?

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