Irina
Avert vs Prevent I found that the difference between avert and prevent is that "prevent is to stop; to keep (from happening) while avert is to turn aside or away". Do I use these two verbs corrcetly in a sentence below? Could you please give me more examples — the situations where these verbs, especially avert, are used in everyday language? I can not prevent the crisis on the stock market, but I can avert a loss by selling the risky stocks now while the price is still high.
Jun 11, 2020 2:26 AM
Answers · 1
Avert is really more of a synonym for prevent. I think a better word to use would be "mitigate." I can not prevent the crisis on the stock market, but I can mitigate the loss by selling the risky stocks now while the price is still high. Or you could mean that you want to prevent any future loss, and in that case you might say: I can not prevent the crisis on the stock market, but I can avert any future loss by selling the risky stocks now while the price is still high. In either case, you might consider rewriting the first part to say: I could not prevent the crisis in the stock market...
June 11, 2020
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