2

The snake found its way into a vent, entered the gallery and knocked over several items while the gallery was closed on Monday.

I see this structure used with other verbs:

- make one's way to somewhere

- work one's way to somewhere

I now wonder whether this structure can be used with other verbs, too. For example:

- The prisoner dug his way to the outside.

- The man swam his way to the beach on other side of the river.

- The eagle flew its way to the rocks on the mountain.

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

You can say many sorts of things using that idiom:

The gymnast flipped, spun, tumbled, and leapt her way to a silver medal.

The boat inched its way along the marshland canals.

The highway engineers bulldozed their way across the countryside.

The ingenue smiled her way through a room full of old geezers.

The con-man plea-bargained his way out of a prison sentence.

Improve this answer
2
  • +1 for the wide range of examples. But it raises a question for me. As a native speaker I can think of examples where the idiom works or doesn't, and I instinctively know which is which. But as I reflect, I can't see any underlying principles. (I did wonder if his/her way was more likely to be required with transitive verbs.) Your thoughts?
    – Peter Kirkpatrick
    Commented Aug 2 at 22:00
  • @PeterKirkpatrick I hadn't considered the transitivity of the verb in its usual usage, but both transitive and intransitive verbs seem to work with "his way" etc.
    – TimR
    Commented Aug 3 at 10:50
6

The first one, dug his way seems normal to me. The other two are a bit odd.

I'm not sure of the explanation, but part of it is that idiom implies that it is difficult or arduous to get there. Hence that fits with "dug his way".

That could fit with "swam his way", but without any context to say why this was difficult or arduous, it reads oddly. (I don't think you can use this idiom on its own to say that the task was arduous - there need to be other reasons, which are certainly there when the task is digging a tunnel).

As for the eagle: we think of an eagle's flight as smooth and apparently effortless. (It's also unusual to refer to an eagle as "he" unless you've already established him as a personified character).

Improve this answer
6
  • 1
    Also, if I remove his way from those sentences, the opposite is true: dug to the outside seems unnatural, whereas swam to the beach and flew to the nest both sound fine.
    – Peter Kirkpatrick
    Commented Aug 2 at 14:02
  • @PeterKirkpatrick, So I wondered if we could use that phrase with other verbs that means to go somehere, too, such as swim, fly. And now, I understand not all verbs can replace "make" in the phrase "make one's way to somewhere", also keeping the connoation of "more effort"?
    – Yunus
    Commented Aug 2 at 14:31
  • @Yunus, make one's way does not necessarily connote physical effort; but it implies some sort of challenge or effort: perhaps it takes a long time, or it is easy to get lost.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Aug 2 at 15:00
  • 1
    Agree the inclusion of "his way" puts emphasis on the way itself to suggest it was unique, non-obvious, or somehow personalized to be "his". The prisoner and the snake find ways where you normally wouldn't expect there to be one at all, hence why it sounds natural to use "his/its way" - the way is no one else's. For the swimming and flying examples, there's nothing unique or interesting about the way itself, it's the same straight line that anyone in the same scenario would use.
    – Nuclear Hoagie
    Commented Aug 2 at 20:15
  • 2
    The ‘challenge’ or ‘non-obvious’ aspect is exactly what this construction emphasises. As @NuclearHoagie says, that’s why ‘swam his way to the beach’ is odd (that’s an obvious place to go and an obvious way to get there if you’re in the water), whereas ‘swam his way to a gold medal’ is fine (because winning gold is challenging and non-obvious).
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Aug 3 at 9:05

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .