prevail vs pervade

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

  1. Cooler Climate Could Prevail in Europe and North America Next Decade

  2. Cooler Climate Could pervade in Europe and North America Next Decade

  3. Sadness prevail in the village.

  4. Sadness pervade in the village.

  5. These style prevail in the 1950s. (some kind of style that use in building house)

  6. These style pervade in the 1950s. (some kind of style that use in building house)

the both word has the same meaning (except prevail has the meaning of wining). are these sentence correct? if not why? what is the difference between these two word? is prevail is stronger word than pervade?

I’m grateful to you if you can help me in this thing.

2

*****NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello,

I think that one super important difference is:

“prevail” is INtransitive. That is, it does NOT take an object to be “good” English. For example: I visited the village. I noticed that great sadness prevailed.

“pervade” is transitive. That is, it NEEDS an object. Therefore, one must say “Sadness pervaded the village” or “These styles pervaded the 1950s.”

James

3

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

In the 1970s, a lady named Nancy Dupree visited Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. She wrote a book about her experiences in that city.

Here is one beautiful sentence:

“Orange blossoms scent the air, flowers bloom riotously, birds sing and the freshness of spring pervades the atmosphere.”

James

4

Thanks James. yea reading books is very effective way to understand the meaning of the words. I think i found what is the difference. but i’m not sure,

01) Sadness pervade in the village. ( sadness is everywhere in the village including every house, people and animal in the village)
02) Sadness pervade in the book. ( Sadness is everywhere in the book. I mean in the every pages and paragraph.)
03) Sadness prevail in the village. (Sadness is everywhere, but not in every house,people and animal in the village.)
04) Sadness prevail in the book. ( Sadness is everywhere, but not in every page and paragraph in the book)

5

James M,

  1. I noticed that great sadness prevailed in the village.
  2. I noticed that great sadness pervaded the village.
    Are these two sentences OK? Please comment.
6

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

House:

I apologize for not giving a clearer explanation.

Nos. 01 and 02 are not considered correct because “to prevade” needs an object. WHAT does it pervade? Answer: the village.

Please study Allifathima’s sentences very carefully. To the best of my limited knowledge, Allifathima’s sentences are excellent. You will notice that in the first sentence, “prevailed” is INtransitive. That is, you could delete (drop) the prepositional phrase “in the village,” and the sentence is still “good” English. In the second sentence, the object (“the village”) is necessary. Native speakers, I believe, will NOT accept only “I noticed that sadness pervaded.” You need to tell us WHAT it pervaded.

If you still have questions, feel free to ask. I am sure that a language coach will be delighted to give you further assistance.

Allifathima:

As I told House, I feel that your sentences are spot-on. They do an excellent job in showing the difference between the intransitive “prevail” and the transitive “pervade.”

James