| Former-Teacher | Date: Monday, 27.12.2010, 09:25 | Message # 1 |
 Dean
Group: Admins
Messages: 504
Status: Offline
| Dear Learners!
According to English Grammar we can use both 'be afraid to do' and 'be afraid of doing'.
However, these are two different meanings and the best way to learn the difference is to understand what you want to say;
1) if you want to express real fear caused by a particular thing or a situation and you don't want to do because you know that something bad will happen and you are too frightened, say 'be afraid to do', e.g.
'I am afraid to walk along that street' - "Мне страшно и я не хочу идти по той улице."
2) if you have a cautious attitude to a thing or a situation that may cause danger or may involve something potentially dangerous, use "be afraid of doing', e.g.:
'I am afraid of driving in the city, I prefer driving in the countryside'. - "Я боюсь водить машину в городе, я предпочитаю ездить в сельской местности."
Now, compare the two Russian verbs that will help you to make a correct choice:
Вам действительно страшно и вы не будите этого делать - afraid to do
Вы просто боитесь и избегаете подобных ситуаций. - afraid of doing
Almost always the choice is predetermined by the situation that is clarified by the bigger context:
I am afraid to walk along that street.
I am afraid of walking alone.
The last two examples show that 'afraid to do' describes a particular frightening situation', whereas 'afraid of doing' describes a general attitude to things.
So, in the sentence below it's better to use a more general verbal expression 'be afraid of doing' because the author wasn't really frightened to death, the author just felt it's difficult and could cause problems:
'...I had always been afraid to express my thoughts in English before I started to write messages on this site....'
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