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bubu1992
afford + ing?
I've been taught that "afford + infinitive" is correct but I came across a sentence with "afford + gerund."
That's the sentence:
"We can’t afford having our customers being held up by downtime,” he adds.
Is this correct?
2019년 7월 30일 오후 9:09
답변 · 3
1
It's okay for casual speech, but the sentence would sound better with "afford" + infinitive. The use of "being" is grammatically wrong, though. It should really say, "We can’t afford to have our customers BE held up by downtime."
Because this is a quote, the mistake is understandable and not very important. People often make small grammar errors in speech.
2019년 7월 31일
1
From my point of view, afford + infinitive and afford + gerund are basically the same and can be used interchangeably.
In fact your sentence would be correct even if you used afford + infinitive and would still have the same meaning.
2019년 7월 30일
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