TO or FROM

[Kristine May]

How about this one? Is this correct?


Vira excused herself FROM Dino.


THANKS! :-D

 

[mykwyner]

You can excuse yourself from something such as a party, a class or an obligation, but I've never heard of someone excusing himself from another person.

In fact, the verb excuse is rarely used reflexively. One usually excuses someone else from something.

 

[billmcd]

How about this one? Is this correct?


Vira excused herself FROM Dino.


THANKS! :-D

Maybe if you described in a little detail how you are using the word "excused", we could help you choose another more appropriate word. For example, do you mean that Vira ended their relationship, left the company of Dino for a period of time etc.?

 

[Kristine May]

Thanks for all the efforts to answer. What I mean was Vira and Dino are at a party and they are in one table. Somebody wanted to talk to Vira so she said "excuse me" to Dino. I don't know how to state it.

 

[JMurray]

Vira excused herself FROM Dino.

It depends on whether you are going to give Vira a bit of dialogue, and what the relationship is between her and Dino.
It could be:
"Sorry Dino, I have to talk to Clara", said Vira, as she made her excuses and left the table.
or..
Vira excused herself and left Dino alone at the table.
or..
Vira made her excuses, stood up and walked across the room.

I seem to be breaking up a relationship here!

 

[Kristine May]

Haha! Thanks JMurray! Nope, they do not have a relationship. They are just friends. Haha! Thanks so much! The suggestions are so helpful. :-D

 

[5jj]

I have just posted this in another of your threads, but I think it's relevant here:

The thought occurs to me that, if you are doing an analysis of a television series, you may be worrying too much about getting nearly every word of the dialogue into your analysis. A broader summary might suffice.

 

[TheParser]

How about this one? Is this correct?


Vira excused herself FROM Dino.


THANKS! :-D

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

The "correct" preposition is to:

Vira excused herself to Dino and left the table./ Excusing herself to

Dino, Vira left the table.

If you google "Excuse myself to" and then click on "Google Books," you

will find many examples of "good" writers using that preposition in

such sentences.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

 

[5jj]

If you google "Excuse myself to" and then click on "Google Books," you will find many examples of "good" writers using that preposition in such sentences.

Those links didn't work for me, Parser. However, when I tried the corpora, I found that nearly all the examples of 'excuse(d) myself to' were followed by an infinitive, not a person, as in:

I excused myself to take the call.

'to' = 'in order to'

 

[TheParser]

Those links didn't work for me, Parser. However, when I tried the corpora, I found that nearly all the examples of 'excuse(d) myself to' were followed by an infinitive, not a person, as in:

I excused myself to take the call.

'to' = 'in order to'

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Teacher Fivejedjon,


(1) Thank you for your kind note.

(2) As you know, I am a computer illiterate.

(3) Google "Excuse me to."

(4) When the first page of results appears, click on the word

"more" in the menu on the left side of the page.

(5) When that comes on, click on "books."

(6) Then pages of book selections will appear, mostly fiction.

Many by good writers have to + person.

Now I must excuse myself to you and take care of some

personal business. Have a nice day, sir.


***** NOT A TEACHER *****

 

[Khosro]

I say thank you to Theparser for that useful post, unless someone shows that "he excused himself to her" is wrong in this sense.

 

[5jj]

Thanks Parser.
Clearly non-appearance in the corpora should not be taken to mean non-appearance in the language. A salutary lesson.

 

[billmcd]

Thanks for all the efforts to answer. What I mean was Vira and Dino are at a party and they are in one table. Somebody wanted to talk to Vira so she said "excuse me" to Dino. I don't know how to state it.

At the risk of beating this post into oblivion but given Kristine's clarification, I must say that I think (right or wrong) you would seldom hear "Vira excused herself to Dino" in AmE. Rather, I think you would hear/read "Vira excused herself from the table" OR as Kristine mentions, "....said 'excuse me' to Dino" (and maybe add) and left the table".

 

[5jj]

At the risk of beating this post into oblivion but given Kristine's clarification, I must say that I think (right or wrong) you would seldom hear "Vira excused herself to Dino" in AmE. Rather, I think you would hear/read "Vira excused herself from the table" OR as Kristine mentions, "....said 'excuse me' to Dino" (and maybe add) and left the table".

I would have agreed with you until I followed Parser's links. I don't think I would ever excuse myself to somebody, but it appears that quite a few people would.