accuse of vs accuse us of

Status
Not open for further replies.

david11

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Tamil
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
It is unfair to accuse of trying to get out of answering questions.

Shouldn't there be a noun after accuse like"It is unfair to accuse us of trying to get out of answering questions"?

I think it should be, but one of the moderator wrote it. Can it be used without noun there?

I also have confusion over the usage of "get out" here. In the thread, it was not the moderator's original sentence but he/she tries to reply it without changing the structure of the original sentence.

Sixth post in this thread.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
It is unfair to accuse of trying to get out of answering questions.

Shouldn't there be a noun after accuse like"It is unfair to accuse us of trying to get out of answering questions"?

I think it should be, but one of the moderator wrote it. Can it be used without noun there?

I also have confusion over the usage of "get out" here. In the thread, it was not the moderator's original sentence but he/she tries to reply it without changing the structure of the original sentence.

Sixth post in this thread.

Firstly, thank you for alerting my attention to a typo in my post. Shock horror! Moderators/native speakers make typos. Oh yes we do! So I have gone back and amended it. It should have read "It is unfair to accuse us ..."

I don't understand your final point. The OP was quoted as having said that it appeared that we were trying to get out of answering [his/her] questions by claiming that he/she was trying to get us to do homework. I simply stated that it was unfair to accuse us of trying to do that. Where is your confusion?
 
Last edited:

david11

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Tamil
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
Firstly, thank you for alerting my attention to a typo in my post. Shock horror! Moderators/native speakers make typos. Oh yes we do! So I have gone back and amended it. It should have read "It is unfair to accuse us ..."

It is no shock that moderators do make typos. I was just making sure if it is typo or really it can be said in that way(A lot of things which I thought to be typos, are actually naturally in English). :)

I don't understand your final point. The OP was quoted as having said that it appeared that we were trying to get out of answering [his/her] questions by claiming that he/she was trying to get us to do homework. I simply stated that it was unfair to accuse us of trying to do that. Where is your confusion?

Oh! I apologize. I read it wrong. From the context, I guessed he meant that you(moderators) were trying to get the answer out of him. So, the order of words confused me. I think "avoiding answering his questions" would have been clear. I haven't heard "get out of" used it in that.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Yes, "to get out of" means "to avoid doing" or "to extricate yourself from doing something which you had previously committed to doing".

I pretended I was sick to get out of going to that awful party.
She got out of marrying that dreadful man by moving to Australia!
I hate going to the dentist. I'll always get out of it if I can.
My flatmate washes up very badly. I'm sure he's trying to get out of doing it completely.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top