Shake with fear

Status
Not open for further replies.

djkann

Banned
Joined
Feb 24, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Indonesian
Home Country
Indonesia
Current Location
Indonesia
Could this be ambiguous:

"He was shaking with fear."

because definition 6a & 8a of "with" from my dictionary (-- macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/with ) apply equally well to the sentence. The shaking could be either accompanied by fear (but not caused by fear), or the shaking coulde be caused by fear.
 
As a NES, but not an English teacher:

I would normally read it as meaning that fear was the cause of the shaking.

Regards
R21
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top