I answered him back and took my chances

[joham]

I read this sentence 'I answered him back and took my chances' in COLLINS COBUILD USAGE without any context. I wonder this sentence means the same as 'I took my chances and answered him back'. Or does the original sentence have a special meaning? Does it mean 'I answered him back and was waiting for my fate'?

 

[Rover_KE]

There must be some context. What aspect of usage was being dealt with?

 

[Raymott]

I'd say it means "I answered back, even though that might not have been an entirely safe thing to do. But I was prepared to accept the consequences."
Where it should be expressed in one way or the other probably doesn't matter, because by answering back, he is talking his chances. They are simultaneous events.

 

[MikeNewYork]

The context could involve a police officer, an abusive husband, a judge, or a boss. Many others also. The answering back carried possible consequences, but the speaker did it anyway.

 

[Barb_D]

There must be some context. What aspect of usage was being dealt with?

What word were you looking up? That is part of the context! Getting you to tell us the context has been like pulling teeth. Please don't make it so hard for us to help you!!

 

[joham]

I'm very sorry I couldn't give you any more context. This sentence appears in the Usage book in the part of PHRASAL VERBS, talking about where the object 'him' should be. I could not understand the sentence because there was no context and if the sentence were 'I took my chances and answered him back', I would have got the meaning more easily.

 

[emsr2d2]

OK, but please remember, as Barb just said, telling us the word or phrase you were looking up IS context. From now on, why don't you write your posts using a construction something like "I was looking up where the object "him" should be in the phrasal verbs section of the Collins Cobuild Dictionary and I found this example "I answered him back and took my chances". Can you tell me ...?"

 

[joham]

Thank you very much, moderators and all the teachers here. Since I came to this forum in December, 2007, I have asked nearly 1500 questions connected with my studying of the English language and always got satisfying answers, which help me very very greatly. I feel my English improved a great deal. I don't know how to thank you enough.

In this thread, I asked the question of whether there is a difference between 'I answered him back and took my chances' and 'I took my chances and answered him back'. The sentence is taken from COLLINS COBUILD ENGLISH USAGE. This is the 'context':


Phrasal verbs A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and an adverb, a verb and a preposition, or a verb, an adverb, and a preposition, which together have a single meaning. Phrasal verbs extend the usual meaning of the verb or create a new meaning.
The pain gradually wore off.
I had to look after the kids.
They broke out of prison.
Kroop tried to talk her out of it.
position of objects With phrasal verbs consisting of a transitive verb and an adverb, the object of the verb can usually be put in front of the adverb or after it.
Don't give the story away, silly!
I wouldn't want to give away any secrets.
However, when the object of the verb is a pronoun, the pronoun must go in front of the adverb.
He cleaned it up.
I answered him back and took my chances.
With phrasal verbs consisting of a transitive verb and a preposition, the object of the verb is put after the verb, and the objectof the preposition is put after the preposition.
They agreed to let him into their little secret.



I was afraid that the teachers would waste a lot of time reading all this long 'context' which had nothing to do with my question on the example sentence. So I didn't refer to the 'context'. I hoped to be forgiven for not mentioning the 'context'. And I sincerely hope I can get further help from you, my respected teachers here, if I have questions in my study of English.

Thank you very much again.