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Sat 25 Aug, 2007 03:18 am
They had been chained to the wall and ______ to die.
a) left
b) abandoned
Can either word be used to fill in the blank? If so, what is the difference in meaning?
To abandon is to leave behind deliberately and permanently. The verb "leave" does not necessarily imply such intent. However in this sentence I would definitely choose "left", mainly because:
(1) "Abandoned" would be redundant as well as being a clumsy multisyllabic word. The context (the rest of the sentence) already supplies the extra meaning that "abandoned" has compared with "left".
(2) "Left to die", "left to rot" etc are very common phrases meaning "abandoned".
Thanks, Contrex. I agree with your explanation.
Regards
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