Thursday, 25 June 2015

word choice - Can I say "reduces the proximity to zero" to describe 2 objects being very close?

Proximity is a state, or condition. It is not a measurement. Consider the common phrase 'in the proximity of', which I imagine as the object inside a circle or zone around the other. Think 'neighborhood'.



So saying you have reduced the proximity to zero is almost meaningless, and as you suspect, might be twisted to mean your two objects have no proximity to each other at all, are in fact very far apart.



When you re-state your intended meaning as 'My intention is to describe that the distance between two objects gets very close together' again the condition (close together) is mixed up with a measure (distance).



Perhaps you are thinking to say '. . the distance between two objects gets very small. They get very close together.'

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