Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[wen]

Ex: 1) The hungry boy devoured his dinner
2) The Flames soon devoured the entire house

can i also use engulf in those examples?

Is it better to use "engulf" in second example or both ok or .....

Plx help
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Wenceslas Wong

[bud]

Both of your examples are fine.

You cannot use "engulf" in the first example.

You can use it in the second example, and both ways are very natural ways to say it. However, there is a technical difference in the two ways: "The flames soon devoured..." is focusing on the house (the materials that the house is made of) being consumed by the fire, while "the flames soon engulfed..." is focusing on the fact that the entire house was covered by the flames. In normal speech, though, people would take the two as equivalent statements.

Hope that helps.

[wen]

Thanks buddy bud

Your explanation is definitely what i need, it is very hard to tell the different merely from the dictionary.

Thanks again
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Wenceslas Wong

[bud]

My pleasure, Wen. Glad it helped!