Can I write:
[...]
No, that was not it. Jack felt something at a much deeper level, he felt betrayal.
Or do I have to write:
He felt the betrayal.
Or something like:
He felt the betrayal of it all.
Is there a better way to write this?
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2I would prefer he felt betrayed. Though he felt the betrayal is a grammatical and idiomatic phrase, I am not sure it has the exact shade of meaning that makes sense in context. Simply he felt betrayal makes perfect sense, but obviously someone could quibble about whether it is actually coherent.– Mike GrahamCommented Jan 14, 2020 at 2:38
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1He felt the betrayal I read it that it is something very specific(an act, an event, a cause and effect, an incident...etc) that Jack can point out. He felt betrayed is a kind of feeling and may not be able to pinpoint specifically.– Organic HeartCommented Jan 14, 2020 at 2:54
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1 Answer
In most cases, I would use "He felt betrayed."
However, in your first example, "He felt betrayal." sounds perfectly correct, since the speaker said "Jack felt something..." right before it.
Adding "the" in any of the other two examples doesn't sound right.
answered Jan 14, 2020 at 2:42
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"He felt the betrayal" doesn't sound right on its own, but "he felt the betrayal like a knife through his heart" sounds fine to me. I agree with you about using "betrayed".– nnnnnnCommented Jan 14, 2020 at 2:46
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Yes, I didn't mean you can't add "the" in any case. As I mentioned, using it in the other two examples didn't sound right. Commented Jan 14, 2020 at 2:49
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So, is the following correct? " Jack felt something at a much deeper level, he felt betrayal." Commented Jan 14, 2020 at 2:58
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