Turn down

Hi,

1.'She asked him to leave, but he declined.'
Is 'declined' appropriate in the sentence?

2.She asked him to leave, but he rejected leaving.
Can we use 'reject' in this way?

3.She asked him to leave, but he turned it/her down.
Can we use 'turn it down' or 'turn her down' in the sentence?

If  'decline', 'reject' and 'turn down' all fine in the above, what is their difference?

Thanks

Anonymous wrote:

1.'She asked him to leave, but he declined.' Is 'declined' appropriate in the sentence?

I see nothing wrong with it.

de·cline, v., -clined, -clin·ing, n.
 –v.t.
1.    to withhold or deny consent to do, enter into or upon, etc.; refuse: He declined to say more about it.
2.    to express inability or reluctance to accept; refuse with courtesy: to decline an invitation; to decline an offer.
3.    to cause to slope or incline downward.
4.    Gram.
    a. to inflect (a noun, pronoun, or adjective), as Latin puella, declined puella, puellae, puellae, puellam, puella in the five cases of the singular.
    b. to recite or display all or some subset of the inflected forms of a noun, pronoun, or adjective in a fixed order.
–v.i.
5.  to express courteous refusal; refuse: We sent him an invitation but he declined.
6.    to bend or slant down; slope downward; descend: The hill declines to the lake.
7.    (of pathways, routes, objects, etc.) to follow a downward course or path: The sun declined in the skies.
8.    to draw toward the close, as the day.
9.    to fail in strength, vigor, character, value, etc.; deteriorate.
10.    to fail or dwindle; sink or fade away: to decline in popularity.
11.    to descend, as to an unworthy level; stoop.
12.    Gram. to be characterized by declension.
–n.
13.    a downward slope; declivity.
14.    a downward movement, as of prices or population; diminution: a decline in the stock market.
15.    a failing or gradual loss, as in strength, character, power, or value; deterioration: the decline of the Roman Empire.
16.    a gradual deterioration of the physical powers, as in later life or in disease: After his seventieth birthday he went into a decline.
17.    progress downward or toward the close, as of the sun or the day.
18.    the later years or last part: He became an editor in the decline of his life.

REFUSE, DECLINE, REJECT, SPURN all imply nonacceptance of something. To DECLINE is milder and more courteous than to REFUSE, which is direct and often emphatic in expressing determination not to accept what is offered or proposed: to refuse a bribe; to decline an invitation.

RHUD

CB

Hi GG,

I see! Thank you very much!
Do 'refuse', 'decline', 'reject', or 'turn down' work in these cases as follows?
1. I asked him to lend me some money, but he refused.
2.I asked him to lend me some money, but he declined.
3.I asked him to lend me some money, but he turned me down/turned it down.
4.I asked him to lend me some money, but he rejected it.

5.He rejected lending me some money.
Does this make sense?

Thanks

Grammar Geek wrote:

Sorry, I just don't agree. If I'm asking you to leave, I'm really giving you an order. I'm not offering you something that you may or may not choose to accept.

I see, yes. It all boils down to our understanding to ask slightly differently. To me an order would be: I'm telling you to leave. Despite that, in polite social intercourse a person who is asked to leave would of course feel obliged to leave. The use of to ask made me consider to decline acceptable but it is of course true that words don't have the same meaning for all people and I understand your point.

Happy New Year to all

CB

Khoff wrote:

Of course, you could use it facetiously: I asked him to leave.  He declined, so I was obliged to encourage him with my fist.

Indeed. Here's another example: I asked him to do me a favour. He declined, so I was obliged to encourage him with my fist.

For at least 400 years, to ask + object + infinitive was used to indicate a request and to tell + object + infinitive was used to give an order. As I am a foreigner I am not in daily contact with English and was unaware of the change in meaning that has occurred. I stand corrected.

CB