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Candy Posted 23 years ago
Grammar

Decline, turn down, refuse, reject

Could you please explain the difference of the following words for me?

decline, turn down, refuse, reject

Especially, the difference between "turn down" and "refuse" is not clear to me.

Thanks for your help in advance!!
  

Top answer

Hello Candy- I like the way you have these 4 words/phrases ordered. They are in a sequence of increasing the intensity of the refusal. " heh -m

  • Hello Candy- I like the way you have these 4 words/phrases ordered.
  • They are in a sequence of increasing the intensity of the refusal.
  • " heh -m
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8 Answers
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Hello Candy-

I like the way you have these 4 words/phrases ordered.
They are in a sequence of increasing the intensity of the refusal.

From a polite, "No thank you", up to a strong, "NO WAY!"

heh
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Below are some figurative illustrations of the strength of each word or idiom. They should not be taken as literal definitions.
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Decline; gracefully not accept.
For example; bow politely, step back and say no thank you.
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Turn down; not accept.
Example; a contract has been offered to you. You don't like the contract, so you turn it face down on the table to demons
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Thanks Trellis, thanks Mike for your help Emotion: smile

I understand the basic idea for these words and phrases, but ...they are confusi
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I think Trellis summed it up well. They simply mean 'no' in varying degrees of strength.
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Hi everyone,

Does this mean that it's correct to write as I have done below? And that the difference between the two options is the that the second sentence tells the reader that the "he" was sort of frustrated?

When asked about the money, he declined to answer.

When asked about the money, he rejected to answer.

Bye,

Bonovox
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In this context, it seems rejected is not correct usage, rather refused could be used.

When asked about the money, he rejected to answer.

Saravan
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When asked about the money, he rejected to answer. - No, this is not idiomatic at all.
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Thanks "Anonymous" and Grammar Geek!

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