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GeorgiPeev03 Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

Afford + to + infinitive or afford + verb + ing

Hello. I've been wondering which of those 2 upper are true. Or can be used afford with both? Because it sounds to me a lot better to say:
I can't afford not being there
to:
I can't afford not to be there.

  

Top answer

We normally say "afford to do something" not "afford doing something", so these are correct: I can't afford not to be there. I can't afford to not be there. The first one is more usual.

  • We normally say "afford to do something" not "afford doing something", so these are correct: I can't afford not to be there.
  • I can't afford to not be there.
  • The first one is more usual.
  • It is possible to find occasional examples of "afford doing something", but to me this pattern seems borderline.
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1 Answers
0

We normally say "afford to do something" not "afford doing something", so these are correct:

I can't afford not to be there.
I can't afford to not be there.

The first one is more usual.

It is possible to find occasional examples of "afford doing something", but to me this pattern seems borderline.

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