reservation vs reluctance

Question

0A group of foreign reporters were on their way to a refugee camp. On their way, they were stopped by goverment officials and their documents were checked. The officers were reluctant to let them pass initially but after some persuasion, they waived the reporters through.02br02br00Can I say, "Despite their reservation/reluctance, they let the reporters pass"?02br02br00Are both choices correct? If not, why?02br02br00Thanks0-

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

0Reluctance just means not wanting to do something. If I am reluctant to do something, I might have a reason, I might have many reasons, or I might have no reasons.02br
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00"Having reservations" means having particular reasons to be reluctant. It's like the officers are saying "OK, but..." and they don't want to say yes because something is not right with the papers or something.02br
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00"Despite their reluctance" is probably the best choice to use. 02br
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00"Despite their reservation" is usually not good. The only time you would say that is when ( a ) the officers have EXACTLY ONE reason to be reluctant, AND ( b ) you were just talking about that reason, so everybody knows it.02br
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00"Despite their reservations" (with an S at the end) is better. But you would be expected to write what some of the reservations were, or else you should just say reluctance.02br
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00Also: "waived them through" should be "waved them through". Waive means to give up your right to something, or to allow regulations to be broken. (Examples: The immigration official waived the visa requirement. We waived our right to a public hearing.)02br
00When officers wave you through at a checkpoint, wave means they are waving their hands to tell you to go. 0-

New2grammar · Answer

0Thanks, Anon for such a great explanation. Yes, waive is a typo. 0-

reservation vs reluctance

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