Dear curmudgeon,
Thank you very much for your explanation. It seems it has something to do with collocation. To make sure I understand it perfectly I am going to explain it to you. Could you please kindly see if the explanation is correct or not?
No.1
I think the key point of your explanation is the phrase ' to receive favours' and 'to bestow favours'. He did something to receive favours means he did something and get favours in return. If he did something and was bestowed the favours that means he get the favours because he has achieved something, say in his word. Is that right?
No.2
We can say 'to live on charity
given by others'. If I use ' to live off' then the collocation should be 'to live off charity
taken from others'. Is that right?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Have a nice weekend. I think you'll watch football match today. Is that right?
Jiang
Quote:
Originally Posted by curmudgeon The second sentence does not wholly make sense to me. It implies that he is going out of his way to please his boss in return for favours. In that case he would be living off the favours bestowed on him. However, if he is going out of his way to please his boss to receive favours, then he hopes to live on those favours.
It would be better to say;
It sickens me to see him given favours just because he goes out of his way to please his boss. Someone should tell him that nobody can live on favours alone'
You can live on charity given by others, but you can also live off charity taken from others.
I hope that makes sense.  |