"To be on alert" or just "to be alert"
“The prison officers have to be on alert ever since they discovered one of the jail prisoners to be positive for Covid - 19."
Hello:
I have a few questions to ask about the above sentence, please.
1. In place of "have to be on alert", can't we just say "have to be alert"?
2. Is the verb "discover" used as a "catenative" verb there?
Thank you!
Top answer
" I don't know what that means. It is hard to see just why the officers are supposed to be alert and for what. I guess they need to watch for symptoms among the population, but that is not clear.
- " I don't know what that means.
- It is hard to see just why the officers are supposed to be alert and for what.
- I guess they need to watch for symptoms among the population, but that is not clear.
- "On alert" seems a bit off in any event.
- You can't "have to be on alert".
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Laborious“The prison officers have to be on alert ever since they discovered one of the jail prisoners to be positive for Covid - 19."
I don't know what that means. It is hard to see just why the officers are supposed to be alert and for what. I guess they need to watch for symptoms among the population, but that is not clear. "On alert" seems a bit off in
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