in place of和take the place of都是取代的意思,不同之处就是前者是介词词组,后者是动词词组,两者充当的成分不一样.用的时候你可以把前者当一个介词,后者当动词,那么就很好区分了.
例如：
Mrs Lu gave a talk at the meeting in place of Mr Chen.
Mrs Lu took the place of Mr Chen to give a talk at the meeting.