delay death

Question

How would you have written the following?The medication will delay his death not cure him.The medication will prolong his life not cure him.Thanks

Avangi · Accepted Answer

The medication will delay his death not cure him.
The medication will prolong his life not cure him.

Both versions work. I would choose the first. ("Prolonging life" seems macabre to me -- unnatural -- although I recently had my own prolonged.)
Perhaps this is because the expression "prolonging the agony" was commonly used in my family in an ironic sense.

(You need commas after "life" and "death.")

Sandy sandyjr · Answer

As far as grammar is concerned both sentences are correct.

But if you are asking from the positive/negative perspective; I would suggest that, The medication will delay ........is negative sentence And The medication will prolong..... is positive sentence. But your positive sentence does not look good to hear. We don't use that kind of language though it is grammatically correct.

However, as the motivational speakers say we should speak positive all the time . So if you want to say positive and still grammatically correct and still it should look fluent. In my suggestion, you should say.......The medication will make his life longer not cure him. (instead of the word "prolong")

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