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Successor Posted 17 years ago
Vocabulary

Snatch or grab

Hello,

please, could you tell me what is the best collocation in the following context:

John managed to GRAB a quick breath before he was forced under the rough water again.



Is SNATCH a viable option? Thank you for the answers.
  

Top answer

I don't really like either --- both seem to imply something physical being grabbed/snatched. How about 'take'? It is already a 'quick breath', so there's no real need to make the verb say the same thing.

— Ferdis

  • I don't really like either --- both seem to imply something physical being grabbed/snatched.
  • How about 'take'?
  • It is already a 'quick breath', so there's no real need to make the verb say the same thing.
  • Maybe you could use 'catch'.
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3 Answers
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I don't really like either --- both seem to imply something physical being grabbed/snatched.

How about 'take'? It is already a 'quick breath', so there's no real need to make the verb say the same thing. Maybe you could use 'catch'.
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I see, but the University of Cambridge gives us these options (This is an old exam question, just slightly modified.). I guess the verb GRAB is the most frequent collocation in this context - "grab a quick breath of air"...31900 hits on Google, the same phrase with '******' - only 4 hits.
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Ok, I see. I suppose it's 'grab' then; I didn't know. It must be idiomatic; however, I can not find it in any dictionary of idioms.
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