afraid of somebody to be

Hello guys!

I'm an English learner from Japan. Could you help me. My questions is as follows:

"Don't be afraid of him to be braver than you". Is it a correct sentence?

Thank you in advance.

taro

"Don't be afraid of him BEING braver than you" might be how I would phrase that instead.

Uriel's sentence makes sense. Or you could also say, "Don't worry about him being braver than you."

Hello guys,

Thank you for the quick answers. They help me a lot.

Then how about the following sentence?
"Don't be afraid of the computer's capacity to be much cleverer than you."

Some native speakers said this is a correct sentence. Do you agree?

taro

You'd be understood but it sounds a bit odd. I would say: Don't be afraid that the computer is much "cleverer" than you.

<<You'd be understood but it sounds a bit odd. >>

In what way does it sound 'odd'? Sounds fine to me.

Because the "computer's capacity" is normally taken to mean it's memory capacity (RAM, HD storage), not its perceived intelligence.

OK, hadn't thought of that. I thought of 'capacity' to mean 'ability'. For totally non-computer-literate people like me, maybe it's OK! :-)

It still sounds odd when you consider: "My capacity is more intelligent than you". "My capacity"?! And replace that with "computer's capacity" which is just as silly.

Rephrasing what taro wrote with "my capacity", you get: "Don't be afraid of my capacity to be much cleverer than you.".

<<It still sounds odd when you consider: "My capacity is more intelligent than you". "My capacity"?! And replace that with "computer's capacity" which is just as silly. >>

But that's not the equivalent, is it? It would be: 'don't be afraid of my capacity to be more intelligent than you", not 'my capacity IS more intelligent'. That does sound silly, agreed, but it's not what I meant. And the first sentence (my capacity to be...) still sounds OK to me. If you disagree, you disagree.

Are people really not able to think of a username?

Compare,
"don't be afraid of my capacity to be more intelligent than you"
and,
"don't be afraid that my capacity IS more intelligent than you".

The comparative is the same: my capacity, more intelligent than you.

But the structure is different, and that was the question. The comparative may well be the same, but that wasn't the point, was it?

You could equally say 'don't be afraid of my ability to be better at English than you', which is correct, and 'don't be afraid that my ability is better at English than you', which isn't. My German students often say 'I want that you do something' instead of 'I want you to do something'. One is correct and one isn't, and it's irrelevant that the statement 'means' the same thing.

True. I was hung-up on "capacity" being an object as in the computer example.

BTW, the 'my English is better' wasn't meant to be a dig - it was just the first example that came into my head! :-)