Meaning of the word "refuse"

[jdschnieder]

Hello,
i am trying to get the meaning of the word "refuse" straight.

for example, consider the situation below:
a boy asked his mom if he can have a piece of chocolate cake, since he really wanted to taste the chocolate cake. His mom, however, gave him a lemon cake instead even though she had the chocolate cake in the fridge, because she knew that her boy will like the lemon cake better. The boy liked the lemon cake.


in this situation, did the boy's mom "refused" to give him the chocolate cake?

 

[Skrej]

I don't think 'refused' works well in this sentence. 'Refuse' has a sense of argument or strong disagreement, at least in my mind.

In your situation, there isn't really that sense of conflict. He asked for chocolate, and she offered him lemon instead. But since he happily accepted the lemon cake, there isn't really that sense of argument.

Now, if the boy still demanded chocolate, and the mother still would not give him chocolate, then you could say that she refused to give him chocolate. In that scenario, you could also say the boy refused the lemon cake, and demanded chocolate.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Skrej is exactly right. Here are more tips:

Hello,
I am trying to get the meaning of the word "refuse" straight.

For example, consider the situation below:
A boy asked his mom if he could have a piece of chocolate cake, since he really wanted to taste it. [Use pronouns. Without them, you won't sound natural.] His mom, however, gave him a lemon cake instead, even though she had the chocolate cake in the fridge, because she knew that her boy would like the lemon cake better. The boy did like the lemon cake. [The word did adds emphasis, affirming that the mom was right.]


In this situation, did the boy's mom refuse[STRIKE]d[/STRIKE] to give him the chocolate cake? [For past tense, use either the word did OR the -ed ending - not both.]

In an English class for native speakers, this would receive a failing grade because you didn't capitalize. Any sentence that doesn't start with a capital is wrong. So almost all your sentences were wrong.

 

[Rover_KE]

Any sentence that doesn't start with a capital is wrong.

This should not come as a surprise to you, jdschieder; it's the same in German.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

This should not come as a surprise to you, jdschieder; it's the same in German.

Yeah, but everything starts with capitals in German!

 

[MikeNewYork]

Only nouns.

 

[Raymott]

Skrej is exactly right.

I'm not sure that teachers' posts need this sort of confirmation unless you're claiming a higher authority than the teachers here. Why not simply say you agree? Or better still, 'Like' his post, which is taken as an endorsement by those who answer questions.

The rest of your post was useful. It is also correct, jdschneider.