Question
28 February
- Korean
-
English (US)
-
Vietnamese
Question about English (US)
His explanation escaped me.
His explanation failed me.
what is the difference?
His explanation escaped me.
His explanation failed me.
what is the difference?
His explanation failed me.
what is the difference?
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28 February
Featured answer
- English (US)
@luckyall You are correct. I guess it just sounds unnatural to me for some reason. I think grammatically it is ok.
I think when I use "fails me" it is about something that could give me benefit. For example, "My team failed me today. They were lazy and didn't work hard." or "My family never fails to make me happy on my birthday." or even "His voice never fails to make me smile."
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- English (US)
To me, they are the same. In natural conversation, I wouldn't use 'failed me'.
- Korean
@C_matt is "fail" a fancier word than "escape"? or is "failed me" sort of arrogant sounding compared to "escaped me"?
- English (US)
@luckyall It doesn't sound arrogant I think. To me, it just sounds odd. "I failed to understand his explanation." Sounds better. The failure is on the speaker. "His explanation escaped me." seems more like the explanation is bad or confusing
- Korean
@C_matt could you elaborate a bit more for me please?
as far as I understand so far, people say "xx failed me" when xx didn't do what you expected from it.
e.g.
words fail me.
my body failed me so i fell.
his angelic voice never fails me.
their theory failed me this time.
so that's why I thought that someone's explanation could also fail me, as in it doesn't convince or get across to me.(which is the same as "his explanation escaped me")
as far as I understand so far, people say "xx failed me" when xx didn't do what you expected from it.
e.g.
words fail me.
my body failed me so i fell.
his angelic voice never fails me.
their theory failed me this time.
so that's why I thought that someone's explanation could also fail me, as in it doesn't convince or get across to me.(which is the same as "his explanation escaped me")
- English (US)
@luckyall You are correct. I guess it just sounds unnatural to me for some reason. I think grammatically it is ok.
I think when I use "fails me" it is about something that could give me benefit. For example, "My team failed me today. They were lazy and didn't work hard." or "My family never fails to make me happy on my birthday." or even "His voice never fails to make me smile."
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