Friday, December 27, 2019

word usage - Is there any difference between 'get away' and 'run away' in this context?


For these expressions




The whole movie was about him getting away from cops.


The whole movie was about him running away from cops.



Both run away and get away mean escape, but does get away fit in this context?



Answer



Both verbs make sense in your context, but they mean slightly different things.


Getting away implies success: like FumbleFingers said, the movie probably ends with the character still on the lam. It also implies, albeit to a lesser extent, that the cops initially had custody of the character, which he escaped.


Running away does not imply success. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it implies failure, mind you, but I wouldn't be as hopeful about the eventual fate of a character who was running away as I would be about one who was getting away. Running away also does not imply escape: he could have started off in police custody, or he could have started off free as a bird, we don't know which.


In other contexts, these verbs may or may not be interchangeable. For example, teenagers run away from home to get away from an abusive parent, but not the other way around.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Simple past, Present perfect Past perfect

Can you tell me which form of the following sentences is the correct one please? Imagine two friends discussing the gym... I was in a good s...