[Vocabulary] use of the word 'dawn on'

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iereiy

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Hi everyone, this is my first time posting. Well I'm quite intrigued with the word 'dawn on' as what I have observed from google search is that the word is often used with "that" as in "it dawned on me that ...". I was thinking if the word can be used with a noun. My context is as follow
"mounting cases of child abuse have dawned on young couple the feasibility of entrusting elderly with the care of their children when maids have steadfastly been identified to be the culprit of the malefaction."
Well what I mean is that young couple have come to realise the possibility of entrusting their children to the elderly when maids have been evidently accused to be the person behind the mounting case of child abuse. thanks in advance!:)
 

Tarheel

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The phrase "dawn on" means the person thinks of something he hadn't thought of before. Example: "It dawned on me that for $5 more I could have gotten unlimited talk and text.

Do you know what you should rewrite?
:)
 
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Tdol

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The context doesn't work for me.
 

emsr2d2

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You could make it work in the context by saying something like "It has dawned on many couples that it might be better to entrust the care of their children to older relatives, because of the number of cases of child abuse involving maids/nannies".

The mounting number of allegations of child abuse would have made those couples gradually realise how sensible it would be to allow parents/grandparents to look after the children. In that context, "dawn on" could work.
 

iereiy

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so I presume the word 'dawn on' shouldn't be used with a noun as in "dawn on young couple (who) the feasibility of ...(noun) instead it should be used in the context as in "(something) dawn on (someone) that...." ?
 

emsr2d2

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It dawned on this young couple that ... (whatever it is they realised).
 

Tarheel

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It dawned on them that - It occurred to them that

:)
 

iereiy

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Thanks everyone :-D so i believe I can't possiby change the sentence 'it suddenly dawned on me that he was not lying' into 'I was suddenly dawned by his innocence"? If'dawned' in second context is not appropriate then what word should I replace if I am to retain the rest of the words
 
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emsr2d2

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Thanks everyone. :-D [strike]so[/strike] I believe I can't possibly change the sentence 'It suddenly dawned on me that he was not lying' into 'I was suddenly dawned by his innocence"? If (space required here) 'dawned' in the second context is not appropriate then what word should I [strike]replace[/strike] use if I am to retain the rest of the words?

It suddenly dawned on me that he was not lying.
I suddenly realised that he was not lying.

I can't think of any way to give that information with a sentence that starts "I was suddenly ..." and you certainly can't use "I was dawned".

If you want to keep all the other words, you could say "I was suddenly struck by his innocence" but that does not have exactly the same meaning.

Additionally, even though I used it in my example, there is something a little hypocritical about "to suddenly dawn on". The phrase "to dawn on" is generally used to mean "a gradual realisation" and you can't do something gradually and suddenly at the same time. However, you will hear "It suddenly dawned on me ...".
 
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