Afford + to + infinitive or afford + verb + ing
Hello. I've been wondering which of those 2 upper are true. Or can be used afford with both? Because it sounds to me a lot better to say:
I can't afford not being there
to:
I can't afford not to be there.
Top answer
We normally say "afford to do something" not "afford doing something", so these are correct: I can't afford not to be there. I can't afford to not be there. The first one is more usual.
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We normally say "afford to do something" not "afford doing something", so these are correct:
I can't afford not to be there.
I can't afford to not be there.
The first one is more usual.
It is possible to find occasional examples of "afford doing something", but to me this pattern seems borderline.
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