Ships fleeing.

Re: Ships fleeing.

JTT wrote:

tanguatlay wrote:
A waterspout is touching [down] down in the ocean. Ships are fleeing the area.

Is 'fleeing' correctly used?

Many thanks.

While larger ships may seem incapable of "fleeing", overall, the sentence with 'flee' conveys the meaning just fine.

Plenty of crappy sentences convey their meaning just fine.

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I am going to flee this friggin' thread.

Or should I "scamper from"?

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McTag wrote:

Plenty of crappy sentences convey their meaning just fine.

Case in point.

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Mame wrote:

Yeah, but people are manning the ship and you can flee in any kind of contraption.

Or even on any kind of contraption, eh, Mame?

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gustavratzenhofer wrote:

I am going to flee this friggin' thread.

Or should I "scamper from"?

On your bike or your knees, Gus?

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JTT wrote:

gustavratzenhofer wrote:
I am going to flee this friggin' thread.

Or should I "scamper from"?

On your bike or your knees, Gus?

HOW DARE YOU, SIR!!

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Mame wrote:

Uh oh... now you KNOW JTT will be here in a moment and read you a lecture, McT...

Mame, there's no lecture I could give that would work near as well as your whack upside McTag's head. Smile

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(it was only a little one...)

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Re: Ships fleeing.

McTag wrote:

JTT wrote:
tanguatlay wrote:
A waterspout is touching [down] down in the ocean. Ships are fleeing the area.

Is 'fleeing' correctly used?

Many thanks.

While larger ships may seem incapable of "fleeing", overall, the sentence with 'flee' conveys the meaning just fine.

Plenty of crappy sentences convey their meaning just fine.

Here come da lectcha. Smile

Good evening, McTag. Long time no contact. I've missed your witty comments in the Politics section but I haven't missed any of your witty comments in the Politics section. Smile

If 'flee' had the narrow meaning Contrex and you have given it, then why would English need, "... fled on foot"?

Results 1 - 10 of about 232,000 English pages for "fled on foot".

I have to agree with you that "crappy" sentences are often used to express meaning. [One only has to read a Tico or McG posting. Smile

]

I just don't think that they're crappy. They just good enough for the situation. And from my experience, it isn't beneficial for ESLs, who struggle somewhat more than we do to communicate effectively, to have extra burdens placed upon them.

There may well be some pond difference here, the votes seem to be racking up in a distinctive east-west fashion.

And if this is a pond diff, then you two can hardly be accused of placing burdens on, was it Tanguatly? [sp??]

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Looks like you, members, are not in agreement with the definition.

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tanguatlay wrote:

Looks like you, members, are not in agreement with the definition.

The ones who speak English are, Tanguatlay. Smile

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tang - that's English for you!

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Re: Ships fleeing.

JTT wrote:

McTag wrote:
JTT wrote:
tanguatlay wrote:
A waterspout is touching [down] down in the ocean. Ships are fleeing the area.

Is 'fleeing' correctly used?

Many thanks.

While larger ships may seem incapable of "fleeing", overall, the sentence with 'flee' conveys the meaning just fine.

Plenty of crappy sentences convey their meaning just fine.

I just don't think that they're crappy. They just good enough for the situation. And from my experience, it isn't beneficial for ESLs, who struggle somewhat more than we do to communicate effectively, to have extra burdens placed upon them.

I wholeheartedly agree with that, and for that reason I always try to formulate my answers with care, with that in mind.

Initially. Whan we later disagree among ourselves, things often change.

Going back to original comments, I consider that it's the people who do the fleeing: on foot, on horseback, in cars (automobiles).

It is a kind of journalistic shorthand to say "cars fled the city" or "ships are fleeing from the danger zone". The meaning is clear, but the English is regrettable imho.

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So the phrase should be "crews of nearby ships are fleeing the area"?

Are they leaving their ships behind? I agree, ships are inanimate and do only what their crews tell them to do -- but how to succinctly state, with an appropriate sense of urgency, what is happening?

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Oh for Pete's sake.

Ships fleeing is perfectly acceptable use in modern English.

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dlowan, I completely agree. I was trying to get McTag or somebody to tell me how else you could express the same thing.

Tang, I think the consensus is, your sentence is fine as it is.

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dlowan wrote:

Oh for Pete's sake.

Ships fleeing is perfectly acceptable use in modern English.

I think you are right. Our newspaper editors would not baulk at using it. I have already said that. It is useful as a kind of journalese. But I don't like it, and I do not think it works in every register. Certainly the alternative is more long-winded.
I am going to the pub tonight and I will ask the brains trust for their opinion, and report back.

Smile

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Report from the Brains Trust meeting, voting 2-1 in favour of my opinion.

Sorry, ships don't "flee". Except in Australia, Canada and in American newspapers, apparently.

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Eh well, we've obviously progressed more than you have Smile

Once we left the mother ship, there was no holding us back!

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Ships fleeing.

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