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Fire1 Posted 6 years ago
Grammar

Meaning of blush to do

A. He blushed to confess what he did.

(blused to do usage is listed in dictionaries)

I'm not sure what is the implied meaning of sentence A. Would you help me out?

1.He blushed after confessing what he did.

2.He blushed before confessing what he did.

3.Either 1 or 2 according to context.

I'd say the right answer is 3, because sentence A seems to be really ambiguous without further context.

Which option do you think is the right one?

And as a similar sentence, is sentence B ambiguous because of the same reason as A?

B. He was ashamed to confess what he did.

I think even sentence B implies either "He was ashamed after confessing what he did" or "He was ashamed before confessing what he did".

  

Top answer

fire1 I'm not sure what is the implied meaning of sentence A. Would you help me out? First off, it sounds like Jane Austen, rather old-fashioned.

— Anonymous

  • fire1 I'm not sure what is the implied meaning of sentence A.
  • Would you help me out?
  • First off, it sounds like Jane Austen, rather old-fashioned.
  • It unambiguously means that he felt shame as he was confessing.
  • He didn't even have to literally go red in the face.
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4 Answers
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fire1I'm not sure what is the implied meaning of sentence A. Would you help me out?

First off, it sounds like Jane Austen, rather old-fashioned. It unambiguously means that he felt shame as he was confessing. He didn't even have to literally go red in the face.

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And no wonder. The answers you got on those other sites were from random idiots on the Internet who had no clue. In here you have teachers and the like who check each other constantly. Let me lay this to rest, if I can.

For one thing, the "to" does not mean that he blushed as a way of confessing. It took me a minute to even see that interpretation. That is not a matter of opinion.

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fire1He blushed to confess what he did. (blushed to do usage is listed in dictionaries)I'm not sure what is the implied meaning of sentence A.

blush to confess is one of a small family of expressions in which the action in the main clause is the result of the action in the infinitive. For example, I grieve to h

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