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Tue 23 May, 2006 01:36 am
How to tell "adapt" from "adopt"?
Thank you very much!
To adapt is to change something so that it can accomodate something else. When you say "I can adapt to my new environment," for example, you are saying that you can change or adjust your actions and thoughts to make yourself more capable of handling an environment that you ordinarily would not be able to.
To adopt is to take or acquire something you didn't have before. When you say "I will adopt a new strategy," it means that there was a strategy you didn't try before, and now you will try it. In this example it is very similar to "adapt," but there are subtle differences. To adopt a new strategy does not necessarily mean you are changing anything about yourself; you are simply doing something you haven't done before. To adapt to a new environment means you are changing your way of thinking. (Adapting could INCLUDE adopting, but it doesn't have to.)