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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Force

Is there any friendlier way to say "forced" for context like this?


The team were forced to swim after their boat sank.
  

Top answer

Anonymous The team were forced to swim after their boat sank. That is the standard way to express the situation. 'Friendliness' seems irrelevant.

— Mister Micawber

  • Anonymous The team were forced to swim after their boat sank.
  • That is the standard way to express the situation.
  • 'Friendliness' seems irrelevant.
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5 Answers
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AnonymousThe team were forced to swim after their boat sank.
That is the standard way to express the situation. 'Friendliness' seems irrelevant.
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The team had no choice but to swim after their boat sank.
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Be kind to your readers who may be temporarily misled into thinking that the team swam after their boat (i.e., in pursuit).

The team had no choice but to swim ashore after their boat sank

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deadratBe kind to your readers who may be temporarily misled into thinking that the team swam after their boat
The verb "sank" is right next to "boat."

Moreover, there was no mention in the OP of "swimming ashore." Perhaps they swam towards a nearby boat!

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Perhaps they're still treading water. Perhaps they did a lot of things. The author of the sentence will know which one they did. And yes, indeed, "sank" is right after "boat," but also right after the reader has come upon "swam after their boat." This is what I call a "derail." There's nothing grammatically wrong with the sentence as written, but a careful writer will avoid having his readers
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