Afraid and Fear

Afraid

Afraid and fear

In an informal style, be afraid is more common than fear.

• Don’t be afraid. (NOT Don’t fear)
• Are you afraid of the dark?

I’m afraid = I’m sorry

I’m afraid (that) often means ‘ I’m sorry to tell you (that)’. It is used to introduce apologetic refusals and bad news.

• I’m afraid (that) I can’t help you.
• I’m afraid that there’s been an accident.

Afraid is not used before a noun

• Hamid is afraid
• Hamid is a frightened man. ( NOT … an afraid man.)

Across, Over and Through

On the other side (line) : across and over

Across and over can both be used to mean ‘on the other side of a line, river, bridge, road etc.’

• His village is just across/over the border.
• See if you can jump across/over the stream.

High things: over preferred

We prefer over to say ‘on/to the other side of something high’

• Why are you climbing over the wall? (NOT …across the wall?)

On flat areas; in water: across preferred

We usually prefer across to say ‘on/to the other side of a flat area or surface’, or to talk about movement in water.

• He walked across the field. (NOT … over the field)
• Let’s swim across the river. (NOT … over the river)

But over is sometimes used in British English if there is no idea of arriving at the other side.

• We often walk over the fields in the evening.

Across and through

The difference between across and through is like the difference between on and in. through, unlike across, is used for a movement in a three dimensional space, with things on all sides.

Compare:

• We walked across the desert. (We were on the desert.)
• I walked through the wood. (I was in the wood.)
• We drove across the field.

* We drove through several towns.

Answers of Exercise 2(Advance Grammar)

21. ‘Neither’ must be followed by singular verb and pronoun in formal written English. So ‘were’ should be ‘was’.
22. Most adverbs of manner are formed by adding –ly to adjectives. So ‘different’ should be ‘differently’ to modify the manner in which the chair is shaped.
23. ‘because’ is a prepositional phrase, so ‘as evening’ should be ‘like evening’. ‘As’ acts as a conjunction, while ‘like’ acts as a preposition.
24. Here ‘raised’ should be used instead of ‘risen’. To ‘raise’ means to move to a higher place, while to ‘rise’ means to go up.
25. Adverb is used to modify an adjective. So ‘profound’ should be changed to adverb ‘profoundly’ which modifies adjective ‘disappointing’.
26. ‘was’ should be ‘were’. In the unreal condition (contrary to fact or hypothetical), the past tense form of ‘be’ is always ‘were’.
27. The clause ‘many people believed’ establishes a point of view in the past. ‘is’ should be ‘was’ to maintain the point of view.
28. A ‘verb word’ must be used in a clause after an impersonal expression. ‘is’ should be changed to ‘ be’ after the impersonal expression ‘it is essential’.
29. ‘living’ should be ‘live’. (subject + used to + verb in simple form)
30. ‘because’ should be ‘because of’. (because of + noun)