[Vocabulary] an avalanche

[dilodi83]

What verbs do you generally associate with an avalanche?

The ones I have found are these two: to break off and to come off. But which one is more used in this kind of sentence?

- An avalanche has broken/come off the mountain.

Thank you very much.

 

[emsr2d2]

What verbs do you generally associate with an avalanche?

The ones I have found are these two: to break off and to come off. But which one is more used in this kind of sentence?

- An avalanche has broken/come off the mountain.

Thank you very much.

We don't usually follow "avalanche" with a verb. We simply say "There has been an avalanche" or "There was a terrible avalanche yesterday on Mount Cristobal".

 

[dilodi83]

We don't usually follow "avalanche" with a verb. We simply say "There has been an avalanche" or "There was a terrible avalanche yesterday on Mount Cristobal".

Got it, but if you should define the action that an avalanche does, which would you use? Do you think there's in English a verb to mean the movement done by an avalanche?

 

[emsr2d2]

I suppose it might "cascade" down a mountain, but you would have to use all those words.

An avalanche cascaded yesterday in Switzerland. :cross:
An avalanche cascaded down a mountain in Switzerland yesterday. :tick:

Note that I am not saying that this is what we naturally say. I would expect to see "There was an avalanche in Switzerland yesterday".

 

[Rover_KE]

The avalanche swept away everything in its path.

 

[Raymott]

The avalanche swept away everything in its path.

That's true, but that's not really a verb that describes the essential nature of an avalanche. I agree with ems; we don't have one.

By the way, dilodi, what's the verb you use in Italian?

 

[Rover_KE]

That's true, but that's not really a verb that describes the essential nature of an avalanche.

OK. 'The avalanche swept down the mountain, destroying everything in its path.'

 

[emsr2d2]

OK. 'The avalanche swept down the mountain, destroying everything in its path.'

Aha! Now "sweep" I like.

 

[Raymott]

OK. 'The avalanche swept down the mountain, destroying everything in its path.'

I was thinking along the lines of what other natural disasters do. Volcanoes erupt; bush fires/wild fires burn, a flood inundates. That is, does an avalanche do anything intransitive - a verb that simply means that it happens. An avalanche sweeps? Maybe. In the spirit of volcanoes erupting, what do earthquakes do?
The point I was making was that transitive verbs describing the effects these natural disasters can cause are not verbs essential to the disaster itself. Yes [STRIKE]earthquakes[/STRIKE] avalanches can sweep down mountains, kill people, bury homes, knock over trees, etc.

 

[dilodi83]

That's true, but that's not really a verb that describes the essential nature of an avalanche. I agree with ems; we don't have one.

By the way, dilodi, what's the verb you use in Italian?

In Italian we say "staccarsi" which is kind of "to come off": Una valanga si è staccata dalla montagna, which would be: An avalanche has come off from the mountain...but I do not know if it sounds well in English.

Let me know

 

[emsr2d2]

In Italian we say "staccarsi" which is kind of "to come off": Una valanga si è staccata dalla montagna, which would be: An avalanche has come off from the mountain, but I do not know if it sounds [strike]well[/strike] good in English.

Let me know​.

It does not.

 

[Barb_D]

For what it's worth, this was an interesting thread. It's interesting to think that in one language an avalanche "breaks off" but in another it does not.

 

[Jaskin]

hi,
Please note I'm not a teacher nor a native speaker;

[...] Volcanoes erupt; bush fires/wild fires burn, a flood inundates. That is, does an avalanche do anything intransitive - a verb that simply means that it happens. An avalanche sweeps? Maybe. In the spirit of volcanoes erupting, what do earthquakes do?
[...]

An avalanches and earthquakes hit or strike.
Following the 'sweep down the mountain' construction I would put forward:
roll down
thunder down
crash down
tumble down
strike down

What about take off ?

Cheers

 

[Raymott]

In Italian we say "staccarsi" which is kind of "to come off": Una valanga si è staccata dalla montagna, which would be: An avalanche has come off from the mountain...but I do not know if it sounds well in English.

Let me know

"Staccarsi" sounds like "detach", which is fair enough.

 

[dilodi83]

"Staccarsi" sounds like "detach", which is fair enough.

yes, you're right. But it's really strange that in Italian an avalanche can detach from a mountain and in English can't. Anyway this is what I love most in learning English...its difference from my native language and I also like the different points of view that two speakers (English and Italian) can have and have about verbs and, generally speaking, about actions and how to describe them.