[Grammar] She admitted to having stolen the car.

[beachboy]

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/admit

She admitted to having stolen the car.
She admitted having stolen the car.

I think both sentences are right. Is there any difference? Which one is more common in everyday English?

 

[GoesStation]

Number two is much more natural to me. However, people would be more likely to say She admitted that she stole the car.

 

[beachboy]

Is it also right to say "I wouldn't admit receiving a lower salary"? If it does, it has a different meaning. I thought it could mean something like "accept" or "consider". I've looked it up, but couldn't find it.

 

[Tarheel]

Perhaps:

I wouldn't admit to getting paid less

Also consider:

She admitted to stealing the car

 

[abaka]

You will also hear She admitted (to) stealing the car

GoesStation's sentence is optimal for all registers of speech, highest to lowest.

If I've understood you correctly, and the matter of pay has come up as you are looking for work, you mean to say perhaps:

I wouldn't consider a lower salary.
I wouldn't consider lower wages.

I wouldn't accept a lower salary.
I wouldn't accept lower wages.

I would exclude the possibility of lower wages suggests not your refusal to work for so little pay, but your belief that no one could be so crass as to offer so little.

 

[Tarheel]

I thought it meant he wouldn't admit that he got paid less (than somebody else). I still do.

 

[beachboy]

I thought it meant he wouldn't admit that he got paid less (than somebody else). I still do.

I meant he wouldn't accept a salary reduction. What I really wanted to know is if sentences like "I admit not having breakfast every day" can have two totally different meanings....

 

[abaka]

Maybe. But it's probably better to learn the common meaning and to leave far-fetched context-dependent possible meanings alone. Everything you say is always part of a long narrative. Worry about being clear first and last. All of the alternatives people have suggested to you are quite clear.

 

[beachboy]

Maybe. But it's probably better to learn the common meaning and to leave far-fetched context-dependent possible meanings alone. Everything you say is always part of a long narrative. Worry about being clear first and last. All of the alternatives people have suggested to you are quite clear.

The problem is that, without being fluent, it's difficult to know what "common meaning" is. The only way to know it is by asking. I ask something, and the other members tell me whether it's right, acceptable, right but not common, or wrong.

 

[beachboy]

I meant he wouldn't accept a salary reduction. What I really wanted to know is if sentences like "I admit not having breakfast every day" can have two totally different meanings....

I must have been drunk last night when I posted it. Instead of writing "breakfast", I wrote "breaking". What a mess.... Anyway, here are the scenarios I had in mind:

1) - beachboy, is it true that you don't have breakfast every day?
- Yes, I admit it's true. I admit not having breakfast every day.

2) - beachboy, what do you think of not having breakfast every day?
- Well, I'm addicted to coffee. But sometimes I oversleep and I don't have time to eat or drink anything in the morning. I admit not having breakfast every day.


"Having breakfast every day" is just an example. I wish to know whether the construction "I admit (not) doing something" may carry these two different interpretations.

 

[GoesStation]

I must have been drunk last night when I posted it. Instead of writing "breakfast", I wrote "breaking". What a mess.... Anyway, here are the scenarios I had in mind:

1) - beachboy, is it true that you don't have breakfast every day?
- Yes, I admit it's true. I admit not having breakfast every day.

2) - beachboy, what do you think of not having breakfast every day?
- Well, I'm addicted to coffee. But sometimes I oversleep and I don't have time to eat or drink anything in the morning. I admit not having breakfast every day.


"Having breakfast every day" is just an example. I wish to know whether the construction "I admit (not) doing something" may carry these two different interpretations.

I don't understand the possible meanings you perceive. The sentence in both dialogs means "I don't deny that sometimes I don't have breakfast."

 

[beachboy]

I don't understand the possible meanings you perceive. The sentence in both dialogs means "I don't deny that sometimes I don't have breakfast."

In the second scenario, maybe not having breakfast is something that has never happened. Here's another scenario with a similar ideia:

I love living in this neighborhood. I've been living here for 17 years and I have all the facilities here. But I(would) admit moving to another place as nice as this one.

I (would) admit (considering) this possibility.

 

[jutfrank]

I love living in this neighborhood. I've been living here for 17 years and I have all the facilities here. But I(would) admit moving to another place as nice as this one.

admit is the wrong word to express what you mean. You seem to mean consider.

 

[GoesStation]

Admit is the wrong verb. Write I'd consider moving.

[Cross-posted ]

 

[beachboy]

So it's a false cognate. In Portuguese we have the two meanings. Many people here would be thankful to read it! :up:

 

[jutfrank]

So it's a false cognate.

It's not technically a false cognate, but it's a false friend in the sense that the English admit and the Portuguese admitir (is that the verb you mean?) are used differently.

 

[beachboy]

It's not technically a false cognate, but it's a false friend in the sense that the English admit and the Portuguese admitir (is that the verb you mean?) are used differently.

Precisely! :up: