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Pelin
Can I use these interchangeably?
That promise has not been kept.
That promise has not been realized
May 19, 2019 1:48 PM
Answers · 6
2
I don't know , but both of them sound unnatural.
I never heard anyone say that .
A better alternative would be :
You didn't keep your promise , or
You broke your word (promise) .
May 19, 2019
1
I agree with Elizabeth. The first one is a perfectly natural passive construction.
May 19, 2019
1
Usually promises are kept (or not) and dreams are realized (or not). Your first sentence seems perfectly acceptable to me in certain contexts. For example: "The politician promised to raise wages. That promise has not been kept."
May 19, 2019
We would more normally “keep” or “fulfill” a promise, but “realize” is not wrong in general.
That promise has not been kept. (Good. Someone made a promise and didn’t keep it)
That promise has not been fulfilled. (Similar)
The promise has not been realized. (Something was promising, but the benefits haven’t occurred. We invested in online advertising to increase our business, but we don’t have more customers)
That promise has not been realized. (If you are talking about a specific promise that someone made, like my first two examples, I think it’s ok but not as good. But if we made several changes to improve our business in various ways, we could write this of something that didn’t happen)
May 20, 2019
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Pelin
Language Skills
English, Turkish
Learning Language
English
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