The Magnet
Three verbs, drawn as what they behave like. What sticks, and what will not.
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Nothing in the definition says so. The word has simply spent centuries picking up one kind of company.
Verbs that almost always come with something bad, like commit, and why they sound wrong next to something good.
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One sentence that passes every test you have been taught. Do not read past it too quickly.
He committed a generous act.
Every rule you have been taught is satisfied.
Commit takes an object. It takes act — you can commit a criminal act, commit an act of vandalism. Generous modifies act perfectly well. The tense is right, the article is right, the register is right.
And it is wrong.
Twenty-four objects, three verbs, one box for the leftovers. Sort first. The leftovers are the lesson.
Sort each item into the correct category
What you just found has a name, and it is the reason a sentence can pass every rule and still be marked wrong.
What you sorted is called semantic prosody: a charge a word has picked up from the company it has kept, which is not in its definition and which no dictionary will show you.
Look up commit. You will find something like to carry out or perpetrate. Nothing there forbids a kindness. The prohibition is not in the meaning of the word — it is in the accumulated record of what the word has actually been used with, over centuries, and it is stored in a reader's ear rather than in any rule book.
That is why he committed a generous act is wrong, and why nobody can tell you why.
Three verbs, drawn as what they behave like. What sticks, and what will not.
Nothing in the definition says so. The word has simply spent centuries picking up one kind of company.
Eight sentences. Every one is grammatical and every collocation is legal. Four of them a native reader would refuse.
For each sentence, decide whether a native reader would accept it. Grammar and collocation are correct in all eight — the only thing you are judging is whether the object is the polarity the verb expects.
Two of the four acceptable sentences use one of these verbs in a sense that carries no charge. Spotting those is as important as spotting the errors.
"The volunteer programme has inflicted considerable benefits on the surrounding villages."
Three chains. Check the polarity of what is coming after the verb before you choose the verb.
Chain 1
The sentence to complete: Three consecutive droughts ______ severe hardship on farming households in the north.
Candidates: inflicted / brought
Step 1 — What is the polarity of the object, and does it match the charged verb?
Step 2 — Therefore the expert writes: Three consecutive droughts severe hardship on farming households.
Chain 2
The sentence to complete: The same investment ______ measurable improvements in literacy across all four districts.
Candidates: inflicted / produced
Step 1 — What is the polarity of the object, and does it match the charged verb?
Step 2 — Therefore the expert writes: The same investment measurable improvements in literacy.
Chain 3
The sentence to complete: Firms that miss the filing deadline ______ a penalty of up to 5% of turnover.
Candidates: incur / experience
Step 1 — Which verb has this exact object in its ordinary range?
Step 2 — Therefore the expert writes: Firms that miss the deadline a penalty of up to 5% of turnover.