Wording help please?

Question

Hi,Do you actually use this word "perceive" in conversations? or it is just for dictionary?Computers are [ perceived / believed ]  to be a threat to some people. (Both words are same meaning I believe)I [ perceived / believed ] this car is the best.This car is [ perceived / believed ] the best in the world.I [ perceived / noticed ] someone approaching behind me. (Both words are same meaning here?)It takes a [ courage / nerve ]  to do that. (Both words are same meaning I believe)I lost my [ courage / nerve ] to go through that.Cheers

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

John AkiComputers are [ perceived / believed ] to be a threat to some people. (Both words are same meaning I believe)

They are not the same. You perceive what you sense, and you believe what you think. The sentence is ambiguous either way. Are the computers a threat to some people, or do some people think they are a threat, period?

John AkiI [ perceived / believed ] this car is the best.

"Perceive" is unlikely there. With "believe", it would be more idiomatic as "I believed this car to be the best."

John AkiThis car is [ perceived / believed ] the best in the world.

"Perceive" is wrong. "Believe" needs "to be".

John AkiI [ perceived / noticed ] someone approaching behind me. (Both words are same meaning here?)

Pretty much, except "perceive" is pretty rare for such a mundane activity.

John AkiIt takes a [ courage / nerve ] to do that. (Both words are same meaning I believe)

The article does not belong there. Either word is good, but courage is more integral than nerve is. Nerve is more like daring. Courage is more like fortitude.

John AkiI lost my [ courage / nerve ] to go through that.

The sentence is not very idiomatic. You don't lose either thing to infinitive anything. "To lose one's nerve" is a common expression, and "to lose one's courage" sounds funny accordingly.

CalifJim · Answer

John AkiDo you actually use this word "perceive" in conversations? or it is just for dictionary?

I use it in conversation very very rarely. It is used in writing quite often, however.

John AkiComputers are [ perceived / believed ] to be a threat to some people. (Both words are same meaning I believe)

Close enough to the same. Yes.

John AkiI [ ~~perceived~~ / believed ] that this car is was the best.

As shown above. 'perceived' is very unlikely here. The tense in a subordinate content clause is usually the same as the tense in the main clause.

I thought that ... past tense ....
He knew that ... past tense ....
We believed that ... past tense ....
She said that ... past tense ....
They claimed that ... past tense ....
...

ALSO (less often): I believed this car to be the best. (No 'that'.)

John AkiI [ perceived / noticed ] someone approaching behind me. (Both words are same meaning here?)

Yes, but note what has already been said about 'perceive'. It's less common in speaking and more common in writing.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

John AkiIt takes [no 'a'] [ courage / nerve ] to do that. (Both words are same meaning I believe)

Same meaning. Different register. 'courage' is higher in register.

John AkiI lost my [ (courage) / nerve ] ~~to go through that~~.

OK, but not as idiomatic as it could be. We don't say "lost" with "courage" very much compared with "lost" with "nerve", which is much more common.

And we don't add "to do that". We explain what we were doing first. Then we end with "but I lost my nerve".

The suspect had been carrying a bomb in his backpack all day, intending to use it to blow up a government building, but at the last minute he lost his nerve and abandoned the backpack in a park.

CJ

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