[Grammar] Detract From

[QueryDay]

"He tried to detract from the severity of the accident."
"He tried to take away from the severity of the accident."

Could both be standard English?

 

[emsr2d2]

"To try to detract from" does not sound natural to me. Normally, we say that something "did/did not detract from" something else. It's not normally something which is attempted.

 

[QueryDay]

Then, "He tried to take away from the severity of the accident" is okay English?

 

[emsr2d2]

Then, "He tried to take away from the severity of the accident" is okay English?

I think we need some context. My initial reaction is that "He tried to take people's attention away from the severity of the accident" or something similar is more natural but without knowing what it is he is actually doing, it's impossible to tell.

 

[QueryDay]

More context:

nytimes.com/2008/07/15/nyregion/15adopt.html?pagewanted=print

" 'While nothing can detract from the severity of defendant’s criminal acts,' the lawyers wrote, 'these children are also victims of a system that repeatedly failed at every turn to uncover the most basic and fundamental factual truths.' "

 

[emsr2d2]

More context:

nytimes.com/2008/07/15/nyregion/15adopt.html?pagewanted=print

" 'While nothing can detract from the severity of defendant’s criminal acts,' the lawyers wrote, 'these children are also victims of a system that repeatedly failed at every turn to uncover the most basic and fundamental factual truths.' "

On that basis, why did your original question involve "He tried to detract from ..."?

I realise that your basis question appears to be "Can I use "take away from" in place of "detract from" but I can't see why you would change the whole thing. You could have posted the quote from the New York Times in the first place and simply asked if the writer could have used "take away from" instead.

I concentrated on the use of "He tried ..." in both of your examples.

 

[QueryDay]

Thank you, emsr2d2!

So, the newspaper got it wrong due to poor editing?

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you, emsr2d2!

So, the newspaper got it wrong due to poor editing?

What on earth gives you that idea? Their sentence is absolutely fine. As I said, we normally say that something does or does not (or in this case "can/cannot") detract from something. What I said was that saying that "someone tries to detract from something is incorrect".

 

[QueryDay]

Thank you for your reply, emsr2d2!

Making a few changes:

"Nothing can detract from the severity of the accident."
"Nothing can take away from the severity of the accident."

Only the first sentence is real English and the second is fake English?

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you for your reply, emsr2d2!

Making a few changes:

"Nothing can detract from the severity of the accident."
"Nothing can take away from the severity of the accident."

Only the first sentence is real English and the second is fake English?

They're both fine. What is "fake English?"

 

[QueryDay]

Thank you, emsr2d2!

Most dictionaries seem to imply that only 3 & 4 are possible:

1 "Nothing can detract from the severity of the accident."
2 "Nothing can take away from the severity of the accident."

3 "Nothing can detract from the success of the team."
4 "Nothing can take away from the success of the team."

 

[5jj]

Most dictionaries seem to imply that only 3 & 4 are possible:

1 "Nothing can detract from the severity of the accident."
2 "Nothing can take away from the severity of the accident."

3 "Nothing can detract from the success of the team."
4 "Nothing can take away from the success of the team."

Would you care to provide links to dictionaries that seem to imply this?

 

[QueryDay]

Add "www" and "." to the heads of:


macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/take-away-from

macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/detract

 

[5jj]

There is nothing I can see there that seems to imply what you suggested in post #7

 

[QueryDay]

The definitions from those ( in message #13) are:

"to make something seem less good, attractive, or important"
"to reduce the positive effect or success of something"

Both imply unambiguously that the direct object of take away from and detract from should be something positive, like success, achievement, victory, a good day, etc....