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He doesn't dare climb that tree.

hirashin

Sempai
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8 Apr 2004
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Dear native English speakers,

Which would be used? I believe (d) would not be used in the U.S.
(a) He doesn't dare to climb that tree.
(b) He doesn't dare climb that tree.
(c) He dare not climb that tree.
(d) He daren't climb that tree.

Thanks in advance.
Hirashin
 
Mostly B. A would be understood and is probably a flub that a lot of us native speakers are guilty of, but technically incorrect I think. Not likely D, since "daren't" is either not even a valid contraction or at least very uncommon (Edit: In my dialect, that is; I don't know about others). I'm not sure about C, because it's an uncommon phrasing, but I think it should be "dares not", not "dare not". That manner if speaking is practically archaic for words other than modifier words like "do" and "would", so I wouldn't use it anyway for the most part.

I can't think of many realistic situations where climbing a tree would be such a huge risk that it would call for this phrasing, though. The situations I can think of are if the tree is unstable and on the verge of collapsing (i.e. climbing the tree could get you seriously hurt), or if the tree is owned by someone who would punish you severely for doing so. On the other hand, if someone is just afraid of climbing trees, you would just say something like, "He is afraid of climbing trees." or, "He doesn't like to climb trees." Something like that.
 
Quick correction: looking in a dictionary (Merriam-Webster), a lot of what I thought here was just hypercorrections. "Dare not" and "dare to climb" are correct.
 
Dear native English speakers,

Which would be used? I believe (d) would not be used in the U.S.
(a) He doesn't dare to climb that tree.
(b) He doesn't dare climb that tree.
(c) He dare not climb that tree.
(d) He daren't climb that tree.

Thanks in advance.
Hirashin

(a) and (b) are correct. (c) is correct as well, though it's very, very formal. You will undoubtedly not hear that in casual conversation.
 
More on "dare vs. dare to" at the site below. According to that site, when dare is the main verb (as it is in your target sentences) it may optionally include "to" in front of the following verb.

"to" after "dare"
 
Hey, no need to feel bad about it. I don't think any native English speaker properly understands the English language. Who was it who hypercorrected "daren't", again? ;)
 
The prepositions "rule" is mostly used because normally your clarifying information comes after a preposition(why it's called a preposition) . So therefore the thought is that if you end your sentence with a preposition you've left out needed information. It's likely a rule that's transferred from one of the root languages that English is based off of. My guess would be Latin.
 
Hey, no need to feel bad about it. I don't think any native English speaker properly understands the English language. Who was it who hypercorrected "daren't", again? ;)

Admittedly, I was in a bit of a bad mindset when I wrote that. Sorry about that, haha.

To reply more coherently, it's what I've always been taught from every single English teacher (even advanced placement)/professor. Even my main French professor (born in the U.S., but with extensive English experience also) gave me the same impressions. So you can see where the confusion came up.

Anyway, thanks for the valuable info & friendly advice.
 
The prepositions "rule" is mostly used because normally your clarifying information comes after a preposition(why it's called a preposition) . So therefore the thought is that if you end your sentence with a preposition you've left out needed information. It's likely a rule that's transferred from one of the root languages that English is based off of. My guess would be Latin.

^^^ and this would be exactly right. I'm very certain it is not allowed in the French language to end a sentence with one (it never happens, at all), and you don't even have the lenience of casually omitting them like we do in English.
 
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