Avert eyes, Divert attention

Avert eyes, Divert attention Avert eyes, Divert attention Avert eyes, Divert attention By Maeve Maddox A dog trainer gives the following advice: If you pass a barking dog or other distraction, keep moving forward. If your dog averts its attention to the distraction, give a tug on the lead to avert the attention back to the walk at hand. The uses of the word avert in this passage strike me as odd because, although avert has the sense of turning, avert suggests a turning away from something, not towards it. avert: 1 : to turn away or aside (ones face, eyes, thoughts) especially in order to escape something dangerous, unpleasant, or disconcerting Merriam-Webster The dog trainer may have been reaching for the word divert: divert: 1. trans. To turn aside (a thing, as a stream, etc.) from its (proper) direction or course; to deflect (the course of something); to turn from one destination or object to another. OED The word avert suggests a turning away in the sense of moving one’s body: She averted her face from the stranger. or preventing something bad from happening: With courage and skill the pilot averted a fatal crash. Traffic is diverted. Disaster is averted. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Comparative Forms of AdjectivesTime Words: Era, Epoch, and EonWriting a Thank You Note