Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Username

Billdave

Member Since

May 22, 2011

Total number of comments

1

Total number of votes received

1

Bio

Latest Comments

The opposite of “awaken”?

  • May 22, 2011, 9:18am

Awaken can be transitive or intransitive. The opposite of the transitive verb, as in "I awakened you" would be lull to sleep. "I lulled you to sleep." The opposite of the intransitive version, "You awakened" is to fall asleep- "You fell asleep." Its not really that hard; don't we use these terms almost daily? Though i usually say "I woke up" rather than "I awakened," which seems a little precious and not what i would teach my esl students.