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Grammar pedants - help please.

97 watchers
7 Feb
9:34pm, 7 Feb 2025
23,401 posts
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ChrisHB
too true!
20 Feb
2:39pm, 20 Feb 2025
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Fat Dave
Hey, grammarians... is anyone around for a question?

Now I'm working on my own I have nobody to sense-check with.
20 Feb
2:40pm, 20 Feb 2025
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ChrisHB
yes
20 Feb
2:42pm, 20 Feb 2025
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Fat Dave
Marvellous!

When using "alert" as a transitive verb, can you alert someone "of" something? For some reason I'd feel more comfortable saying "about" or "to".

Like...

The light alerted him of an oncoming vehicle.
20 Feb
3:04pm, 20 Feb 2025
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ChrisHB
I agree with 'to', doubt 'about' and don't think 'of' is possible. YMMV.
um
20 Feb
3:26pm, 20 Feb 2025
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um
As per this site, dailywritingtips.com , "alert of" is probably a lazy flip over from ''warn of".

It does give 7 other examples of prepositions it can be used with, mostly depending on context, active or passive. And all US.

1) Parents and teachers have been alerted about the improper use of prepositions by their students!!
2) Editors and publishers have been alerted concerning the incorrect use of prepositions and pronouns by their writers!!
3) Campers, alerted by the loud footsteps and foul stench of Bigfoot, found that the intruder in their campsite was simply a grizzly bear.
4) Investigators were alerted due to clicking of their geiger counters at the site of the crash. The bomber had been carrying nuclear weapons.
5) The soldiers at the outpost were alerted through the use of their automatic radar equipment that an enemy intrusion was imminent.
6) The airmen at the base were alerted against the presence of alien UFOs by their radar equipment. Later on, it was found that the UFOs were merely large flocks of Canada geese flying overhead.
7) The Highway Patrol was alert for intoxicated drivers on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
20 Feb
3:41pm, 20 Feb 2025
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LindsD
I think you can "be alert" to something. Maybe that's where the confusion lies.
20 Feb
3:41pm, 20 Feb 2025
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LindsD
OK ignore me. Sorry. Not helpful
20 Feb
4:26pm, 20 Feb 2025
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Fat Dave
Thank you! Kept wildly second-guessing.

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