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Hans51 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

I am not afraid of / to

I have learned that 'be afraid to' and 'be afraid of' are differnet in meaning and usage but people say 'I am not afraid to tell her the truth' and 'I am not afraid of telling her the truth' have the same meaning. I do not know why they mean the same just after 'not' is added.

And then is there a meaning difference between 'I am certain to win the race' and 'I am certain of winning the race'? And here 'sure' is interchangeable with 'certain' for the same meaning and usage, right?

What do you native English speakers think? Thank you so much in advance.
  

Top answer

The phrase "I am afraid to" is followed by a verb. It is an action that you are afraid of. I am afraid to sleep alone.

— Doctor D

  • The phrase "I am afraid to" is followed by a verb.
  • It is an action that you are afraid of.
  • I am afraid to sleep alone.
  • The phrase "I am afraid of" is followed by a noun (or a gerund, which is a verb form which acts like a noun).
  • It is an object or an event that you are afraid of.
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6 Answers
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The phrase "I am afraid to" is followed by a verb. It is an action that you are afraid of.
I am afraid to sleep alone.

The phrase "I am afraid of" is followed by a noun (or a gerund, which is a verb form which acts like a noun). It is an object or an event that you are afraid of.
I am afraid of bears. I am afraid of dying in my sleep.

So the "not"
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Thank you so much and then when can we use 'be certain of doing something' and ' be certain to do something' and they are also interchangeable for the same meaning sometimes like 'be afraid of / to'?
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Hans51I have learned that 'be afraid to' and 'be afraid of' are different in meaning and usage
I do not know why they mean the same just after 'not' is added.
There are a lot of possible combinations.
I'm afraid of snakes.
I'm not afraid of snakes.

I'm afraid to jump in the water.
I'm afraid
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Hans51when can we use 'be certain of doing something' and ' be certain to do something'
In most cases they're interchangeable.
One exception that comes to mind is the imperative: Be certain to lock the door before you go to bed.
(Be certain of locking the door before you go to bed is possible, but uncommon.)

When it
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I am not afraid of jumping in the water.
I am not afraid to jump in the water.

I feel like they mean the same in meaning and I have learned that to infinitive implies future happenings and then of jumping also has a future happening like to jump or each has its meaning and they mean the same?
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Hans51 I have learned that to infinitive implies future happenings
In my opinion, there are probably as many cases in which the "to infinitive" does not imply future happenings as there are cases in which it does.

If you search for examples in which the "to infinitive" implies future happenings, I'm quite sure you'll find t
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