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Don't push/work/drive yourself too hard

hirashin

Sempai
Donor
8 Apr 2004
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Which would be used?
(a) Don't push yourself too hard.
(b) Don't work yourself too hard.
(c) Don't drive yourself too hard.

Thanks in advance.
Hirashin
 
I would say A) I hear that the most. B) I've heard as well but not as much of A) Even though C) is grammatically correct I haven't actually heard anyone say it like that even though it makes sense.
 
"Drive" (when used metaphorically like that) doesn't mean work per se, rather it means something like "passion" or "motivation" and has a very positive connotation. So C makes no sense. Honestly, I can't say I've heard "drive" used as a verb at all like that, though, so that looks like you're talking about literally driving a car.

A seems perfect to me.

B seems fine to me, but the "yourself" is quite redundant. When you use "work" as a transitive verb like that, it means "cause (the object) to work", e.g. "The evil slavemaster worked his subjects to death," or, "This company works its employees until they drop." (Also note that it has a pretty negative connotation, hence why those examples are so dark.) When you talk about yourself, you are more likely to just use the intransitive form of "work": "Don't work too hard." "Work yourself" would only be useful if you are somehow compelling yourself to work, e.g. if you make the work schedules and choose to schedule yourself for a 16-hour workday with no breaks.
 
B seems fine to me, but the "yourself" is quite redundant. When you use "work" as a transitive verb like that, it means "cause (the object) to work", e.g. "The evil slavemaster worked his subjects to death," or, "This company works its employees until they drop." (Also note that it has a pretty negative connotation, hence why those examples are so dark.) When you talk about yourself, you are more likely to just use the intransitive form of "work": "Don't work too hard." "Work yourself" would only be useful if you are somehow compelling yourself to work, e.g. if you make the work schedules and choose to schedule yourself for a 16-hour workday with no breaks.

Work itself used in that context doesn't have to have a negative connotation. Seems you just have a negative association with work to me. "The company works it's employees to the needs of their clients."

Also with that type of work you can use yourself without being redundant. "Don't work yourself to death."
 
Thanks for the help, mdchachi. It seems "Don't push yourself too hard." would be more common than the others.
 
I've heard all three, with (a) being most common, then (b), and I've probably heard (c) at some time or another. I would understand and accept any of these on a student paper.

"drive" seems fine, since there is the somewhat similar "to be driven" (to X) (by Y).

He was driven to accomplish his goals by a need to...
He was driven by ambition (to...) ...
He was driven to stealing in order to feed his...
He was driven to photograph the golden gai before it disappeared.

= so determined to achieve something, or be successful that all their behavior is directed towards this aim.
 
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