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Latest post Thu, Jan 18 2007 1:23 PM by milky. 14 replies.
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Anonymous  +  316243 Wed, 17 Jan 07 08:30 AM

is the expressin "afraid at" correct

if it is correct please send me examples sentences

using "afraid at"

Thank you,

Nesh

Mister Micawber  +  316256 Wed, 17 Jan 07 09:58 AM

Not as a phrasal verb.

I am afraid of spiders.
but
I become afraid at the thought of spiders.

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milky  +  316283 Wed, 17 Jan 07 11:05 AM

1      . Now, he stared down at his Saturday suit and was afraid at the new possibility that he had become a man set in

2       kidding!" yelped Margaret Lenham, as much astonished as afraid at the sight of what he planned to use for the operation

3       him. Faldo summed it up: "I was not afraid at being caught by Greg. "I was playing well and

4       topic; he hated heavy emotional arguments. "I'm afraid at the moment it doesn't look good," he said

5       said Adam indifferently. Ruth looked round at him, half afraid at his tone. It wasn't just her imagination; he

6       up in invisible clouds from the thread-bare carpets. Melanie was afraid at nights, when her blue lantern was out and Victoria's

7       conceive the intended deed as his duty; but he was afraid at the same time that he would lack the courage to endure

8       to be as demure as possible if not a little apprehensive and afraid at the prospect of meeting your husband for the first time on

9      , and then the jobs not being there, I'm afraid at the moment is European wide. And my own feeling about

10     the empty horizon and frowned, and she quivered, suddenly afraid at the savage look in his eyes. His big body almost

11     here?" She asked the question half fearfully, almost afraid at what she might be about to hear after the event of

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Mister Micawber  +  316299 Wed, 17 Jan 07 12:28 PM

6,820,000 English pages for "afraid of"
250,000 English pages for "afraid at"


Examples of almost every lexical combination are available on the internet, Milky, but I do not think that students should be encouraged to use questionable forms-- particularly students at Neff's level.  One glance at the examples on the first page of the googled 'at'-forms will show that most instances are completely different structures-- as a matter of fact, half of the ones you submitted from the concordance are inappropriate to the discussion.

milky  +  316337 Wed, 17 Jan 07 01:36 PM

<Examples of almost every lexical combination are available on the internet, Milky, but I do not think that students should be encouraged to use questionable forms-- particularly students at Neff's level. >

<One glance at the examples on the first page of the googled 'at'-forms will show that most instances are completely different structures-- as a matter of fact, half of the ones you submitted from the concordance are inappropriate to the discussion.>

Really? Where is the context for Neff's post?

CalifJim  +  316462 Wed, 17 Jan 07 07:50 PM
is the expression "afraid at" correct
Yes, but not when followed by the very thing that causes the fear.

I'm afraid of snakes.  Snakes cause my fear.
I'm afraid at the thought of speaking in public.  It is speaking in public that causes my fear, not thinking about it. afraid at means something like afraid when or afraid at the time when or afraid on occasions of.
[When I think about speaking in public / On occasions of thinking about speaking in public], I become afraid (because I am thinking about something that causes fear for me).

... afraid at the prospect of X and afraid at the possibility that X work the same way.  They both imply afraid when I think about (the prospect / the possibility) of X.  One is not, strictly speaking, afraid of the prospect or of the possibility, but afraid of X.

He was not afraid at being caught says he was not afraid when he was caught.  (Again, the idea of the time of the fear comes into it when at is used.)
He was not afraid of being caught says he was not afraid that he would be caught.

afraid at night, afraid at the moment, and similar expressions also simply state when the fear occurs -- again the idea of the time of the fear comes into it.

CJ

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milky  +  316674 Thu, 18 Jan 07 07:47 AM

<Yes, but not when followed by the very thing that causes the fear.>

I'm afraid at his side.

Stick out tongue [:P]

Anonymous, 2 yr 309 days ago

Milky,

 

Unless you are suggesting that it is the person’s side that is causing the fear, I fail to get your point here.  The expression “at his side” means “being with him”.  The ‘at’ in this sentence clearly belongs to that (in precisely the same way as some of your previous examples include phrases such as “at the moment” and “at the same time”.)

 

Judging by some of your other posts, I can see that you feel your role is to stimulate debate and to challenge the orthodoxy of “teaching Standard English”.  I have no problem with this where you start a separate thread and allow participants to choose whether they argue the toss with you.  I feel, however, that hijacking questions like you have done here is less helpful – although you are, of course, perfectly entitled to participate in the forum however you see fit.

 

Lil’ Ruby Rose

Marius Hancu  +  316726 Thu, 18 Jan 07 11:57 AM
 Milky wrote:

<Yes, but not when followed by the very thing that causes the fear.>

I'm afraid at his side.

One needs the comma here:
I'm afraid, at his side.
to mean I'm afraid(,) and close by him,
or otherwise it means
I'm afraid because of his side.
And when you have comma it's not really followed by.

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