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Could you please explain for me why I cannot use "let" in this sentence ?

My friends said "They let a prisoner free" is wrong but I cannot understand why let is unacceptable in this sentence.

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  • I don't think I would use either in connection with a prisoner. I think I would say They released a prisoner. That would be the most common way of saying it, at least in Britain, I would suggest.
    – WS2
    Dec 17, 2014 at 13:20

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You almost got the 'let' idiom right:

They let a prisoner go free

is fine and idiomatic.

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Set free is an idiom, those two words together have a particular meaning.

Let and free can go together as well, but they wouldn't have the same meaning. E.g. They let the prisoner free his pet. Here, the prisoner is the subject of free and the object of let, whereas in the other sentence, the prisoner is the object of set free.

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    The first paragraph is fine. In the second, this is a different meaning of free, and does not illuminate the question at all.
    – Colin Fine
    Dec 17, 2014 at 10:18
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I don't think I would use either in connection with a prisoner. I think I would say: They released a prisoner.

That would be the most common form in Britain, I would suggest.

We tend to 'let' dogs out of their kennels, and 'set' animals free generally. Tarzan my lurcher goes berserk when he is set free

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