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Anonymous Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
"Awaken" vs. "wake"
Hi there! My fiancé and I are working on the wording for our marriage vows, and we have one line that is really stumping us. Normally one tiny grammatical detail wouldn't worry us, but we are having our vows printed on a very special painting that we'd like to hang on our wall as a memory. It would drive me crazy to have a grammatical error immortalized in a painting! Here is the problematic line:
"May we be ever mindful that our days together are a gift, and grateful for each new dawn that we awaken to share with one another."
To my ear, this sounds just right. To my fiancé, it sounds like we are actively waking up the dawn. I can see why he is concerned. He prefers:
"May we be ever mindful that our days together are a gift, and grateful for each new dawn we wake to share with one another." To me, the use of the word "wake" sounds strange here.
This is a multi-part question.
1. Which word do you think gives the intended meaning: "awaken" or "wake"?
2. Does the use of the word, "that" in between "dawn" and "we" change our intended meaning at all?
3. Is the problem not with our word choice, but with the construction of that sentence?
Thank you so much for any opinions you can offer!
"May we be ever mindful that our days together are a gift, and grateful for each new dawn that we awaken to share with one another."
To my ear, this sounds just right. To my fiancé, it sounds like we are actively waking up the dawn. I can see why he is concerned. He prefers:
"May we be ever mindful that our days together are a gift, and grateful for each new dawn we wake to share with one another." To me, the use of the word "wake" sounds strange here.
This is a multi-part question.
1. Which word do you think gives the intended meaning: "awaken" or "wake"?
2. Does the use of the word, "that" in between "dawn" and "we" change our intended meaning at all?
3. Is the problem not with our word choice, but with the construction of that sentence?
Thank you so much for any opinions you can offer!
Top answer
" You don't awaken the dawn. You awaken to the dawn. So it's each new dawn that we awaken to to share with one another But two to s in a row sounds strange, so maybe a change in the construction would be better, omitting the problem area.
- " You don't awaken the dawn.
- You awaken to the dawn.
- So it's each new dawn that we awaken to to share with one another But two to s in a row sounds strange, so maybe a change in the construction would be better, omitting the problem area.
- each new dawn we share with one another CJ
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1 Answers
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Anonymous each new dawn that we awaken to share with one another."You don't awaken the dawn. You awaken to the dawn. So it's
each new dawn that we awaken to to share with one another
But two tos in a row sounds strange, so maybe a change in the construction would be better, omitting the problem area.
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