Dared not to

Question

Is the use of "dared not" in the following sentences idiomatic?1. I dared not to send you the video clip for it contained some objectionable words. 2. I dare not to tell my boss that he was wrong.My friend said that it should not have been "dared not to" rather, just "dared not" without the infinitive "to":3. I dared not send you the video clip for it contained some objectionable words. 4. I dare not tell my boss that he was wrong.I checked Michael Swan's "Practical English Usage" where the author has said that "dare" can be used like an ordinary verb with "to", and the examples that he has given are,5. I shall be surprised if he dares to tell them what he knows.6. Do I dare to ask her.I googled "I dared not to tell you" and it got 6,820,000 hits. But I am not sure how many of those were from sites known for proper or idiomatic English.Could someone help me with this?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Dare and need have two forms:

I dare not leave / I do not dare to leave
I need not leave / I do not need to leave.

Some native speakers confuse these, but it is not acceptable in formal or careful English.

GPY · Answer

SelvakumarI googled "I dared not to tell you" and it got 6,820,000 hits.

Try it with quotes around the search string. I get six hits. Beware, though, that Google's displayed number of hits is not always meaningful even for quoted strings. Sometimes it is a huge and apparently random number that bears no relation to actual available results.

Sesquipedalian101 · Answer

Thank you very much, Mister Micawber and GPY. And, yes, GPY, I quite agree that one should not rely overmuch on google search. Thanks for the advice.

So, are my original sentences idiomatic or grammatical?

1. I dared not to send you the video clip for it contained some objectional words.

2. I dared not to tell my boss that he was wrong.

Mister Micawber · Answer

SelvakumarSo, are my original sentences idiomatic or grammatical?1. I dared not to send you the video clip for it contained some objectional words.2. I dared not to tell my boss that he was wrong.

Did you read my post?

Sesquipedalian101 · Answer

Thank you, Mister Micawber, for the prompt help. Yes, I read your post but I did not understand it. Did you mean that the original sentences were wrong and they ought to have been recast in the following manner?

1. I did not dare to send you the video clip for it contained some objectionable words.

2. I did not dare to tell my boss that he was wrong.

GPY · Answer

SelvakumarSo, are my original sentences idiomatic or grammatical?1. I dared not to send you the video clip for it contained some objectional words.2. I dared not to tell my boss that he was wrong.

These are the usual ways to say what I believe you intend:

I dared not send/tell/etc.
I did not dare send/tell/etc.
I did not dare to send/tell/etc.

"I dared not to ..." is possible but does not mean the same thing. Maybe it's easier to illustrate with another example. "I did not dare (to) go to work" means that you did not go because you were frightened of what would happen when you got there. "I dared not to go to work" means that you should have gone but were brave enough to defy authority, for example. This is not a very common usage, and I would not especially recommend that you try to use it because of possibility of misunderstanding.

Sesquipedalian101 · Answer

Thank you very much, GPY. Now, I understand it clearly. Thank you for taking the time to explain to me.

Dared not to

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