Quote:
Originally Posted by Ashura Shadow
Merci mille fois pour ton explication ! Je comprends mieux beaucoup de choses, maintenant.  |
As Shiva says, the difference is, at least at a basic level, etymological. In many contexts "liberty" and "freedom", "despair" and "hopelessness" can be used interchangeably. However, a good dictionary will show subtle differences in usage between these synonyms. We say "freedom of expression", "freedom of the press", not "liberty"; On the other hand there is the idiom "I am not at liberty to say...", where "freedom" would be quite wrong. "Hopelessness" can be used in phrases like "He did not understand the hopelessness of his case", where the word has quite a different sense.
As a teacher of English to foreigners I have frequently encountered surprise at the seemingly unnecessary duplication of English vocabulary, and a feeling of despair (hopelessness??) when it is explained to the student that the pairs of words are not exact synonyms...
But to prove to yourself beyond any doubt that English is an impossible language to understand fully, try to get your head around the phrasal verbs:
when should you say "give up", and not "abandon", "renounce", "surrender"?
