Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[leslie]

Hello Teachers,

I find the following phrases very confusing. Are they interchangeable in the following example sentences? Could you please elaborate the differences if there're any?

1. The president seemed to have backed off from his 'no new taxes' promise.

2. The president seemed to have backed out of his 'no new taxes' promise.

3. The president seemed to have bailed out on his 'no new taxes' promise.

Thank you very much.

Leslie
_________________
Less Is Blessed

[Anuradha Chepur]

#1 and #2 can be interchangeable.

#3 doesn't mean the same as #1 or #2. #3 means that the President was in a difficult situation and he got bailed out because of his 'no new tax' promise.

[CP]

Another interpretation of Sentence 3 is that the president seems to have abandoned or given up his promise. To bail out of an airplane is to jump out (with a parachute, if one is available) either because one wants to fly through the air and reach the ground (military or recreational jump) or because the plane is having trouble (emergency jump).

In the U.S.A., "to bail out" or just "to bail" is a colloquial expression meaning to abandon or give up on or back out of something.

A college student might bail out if the party is not fun or if the class is too hard. He might tell his friends, "The party was a drag, so I bailed," or "I couldn't understand the prof, so I bailed."

[leslie]

Thank you for your help. Still, I feel confused.

[Anuradha Chepur]

Hello Leslie,

As per CP's interpretation, all three are interchangeable, since colloquially to bail out is to back out.