Shirk

[arzgol]

The man is unhappy working with a partner who shirks from his dueties.

The verb ''shirk'' should be used without a preposition. Am I right?

Thank you for your response.

[5jj]

The man is unhappy working with a partner who shirksfrom his dueties.

The verb ''shirk'' should be used without a preposition. Am I right?

Yes

[BobK]

Perhaps the errant 'from' comes from false analogy with 'shrink from'... (To shrink from doing something is to avoid or be slow to do it not from laziness but from fear, loathing, or disgust.)

I often see 'shirk' used intransitively, so the choice of preposition isn't an issue: 'Nobody likes a team member who shirks'.

b

[arzgol]

Sorry, you didn't hit the nail on the head this time. I made a mistake because in Farsi we use the preposition ''from'' , similarly '' be agree with''! In my sentence, I meant ''shirk'', ''He is unhappy working with a partner who shirks his dueties''. But, you made a good point. Thank you, I've learned something. I looked ''shrink from'' up in my Longman dictionary. It means to avoid doing something difficult or unpleasant : The leadership too often shrinks from hard decisions.
But ''Shirk'' means to deliberately avoid doing something you should do, because you are lazy : He was fired for shirking.
　
　

[suprunp]

Do we say "He shirks from carrying out his duties"?

Thanks.

[Rover_KE]

Do we say "He shirks from carrying out his duties"?

No.

5jj confirmed in message #2 that shirk is not used with a preposition.

Rover

[suprunp]

Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary.

Shirk
shirks, shirking, shirked
VERB: usu with neg

[V n] We in the Congress have our role to play, and we can't shirk our responsibility...
[V from -ing/n] The Government will not shirk from considering the need for further action. [Also V]

Is this a mistake?

Thanks.

[Rover_KE]

No. I can't argue with that.

Rover

[5jj]

When I read that dictionary entry, I wondered for a moment whether I had made a mistake. However, 97% of COCA's 346 examples of all forms of SHIRK in use do not contain 'from', so it' seems to be pretty uncommon.