He escaped the accident.

[taked4700]

Hi,

1. He escaped the car accident.
2. He escaped from the car accident.

Which is idiomatic? I guess both could be grammatically correct, but 2 is more natural.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Raymott]

Hi,

1. He escaped the car accident.
2. He escaped from the car accident.

Which is idiomatic? I guess both could be grammatically correct, but 2 is more natural.

Thanks in advance.

It depends on what you mean.
1. could mean that he managed to avoid the car accident altogether, by swerving or slowing down, for example.
2. implies that he was in the accident before escaping from it.

 

[taked4700]

Thank you, Raymott.

After reading your explanation, some confusion occurred to me.

Can I understand that it is grammatical to say "He escaped (the) jail." to mean to avoid being kept in the jail?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Raymott]

Thank you, Raymott.

After reading your explanation, some confusion occurred to me.

Can I understand that it is grammatical to say "He escaped (the) jail." to mean to avoid being kept in the jail?

Thanks in advance.

It's grammatical, but that's not your question. You'd have to consider the context. I don't think a native speaker would write that and expect his readers to infer that the person was never in jail. "He avoided a jail term" is unambiguous.

 

[emsr2d2]

Raymott's explanation of the two sentences about an accident were quite clear and I agree entirely.

Your example about jail is not the same and it has a couple of problems. We don't say "He escaped the jail".

He escaped jail = He was on trial and was either found not guilty, or he was found guilty but his sentence was something other than jail time.
He escaped from jail = He was in jail, serving time for an offence and he managed to escape from the prison. Presumably now lots of people are looking for him!