on the verge of and to be about to

[majid]

Hello
would you please tell me what's the difference between "on the verge of and to be about to"? Can they be interchangeably used in all contexts or collocate with the same words on all sentences?

Thanks a lot

[Marius Hancu]

About the same meaning, but:

of: asks for noun phrases; more spatial in terms of imagery
to: asks for verb (infinitive) phrases; more temporal

after them:

He was on the verge of a great catastrophe, in financial terms.
He was about to leave the room, when something strange came up.

[ghoti]

He was about to leave the room, when something strange came up. [/I]

Also possible: He was on the verge of leaving the room when something strange came up.

[Marius Hancu]

Yes, I take "leaving" as a noun, nominal, in this case.

[Lucretia]

Hello majid ,

I’ve always thought on the verge of is mostly used in negative contexts, and my investigation through JustTheWord shows that :
on the verge of bankruptcy
on the verge of closure and insolvency
they were on the verge of breaking up
on the verge of extinction
on the verge of turning into hatred
on the verge of divorce

Or at least about something dramatic:
a vigorous young man on the verge of a fine new career
on the verge of taking a decision
on the verge of a revolutionary change
on the verge of restoring diplomatic relation
http://193.133.140.102/JustTheWord/Scripts/show_examples.pl?triple=verge_N+spec+the+sg_DET (http://193.133.140.102/JustTheWord/Scripts/show_examples.pl?triple=verge_N+spec+the+sg_DET)

On the verge of is bookish, about to is more colloquial. I don’t think they are always interchangeable.

Best wishes.

[Marius Hancu]

In itself, "on the verge" ins't negative.

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verge

b : the point marking the beginning of a new or different state, condition, or action : BRINK (http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged?book=Third&va=brink), THRESHOLD (http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged?book=Third&va=threshold) <the country was on the verge of bankruptcy -- London Calling> <on the verge of asking to be relieved -- John Mason Brown> <vocabulary and grammar are both bad to the verge of illiteracy -- M.M.Rossi>

c : the outermost margin or marginal area of a state, concept, class, or jurisdiction : FRINGE (http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged?book=Third&va=fringe) <the mob operates on the verge of the confidence rackets -- D.W.Maurer> <not enough that a statute goes to the verge of constitutional power -- O.W.Holmes died 1935>

Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged.
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The 2nd "on the verge, at c, can't be replaced by "to be about to."

[OddThomas]

One of my dictionaries says that verge is an extreme terminating line or edge. As such, the word is often used metaphorically with flair to dramatize a decisive moment.

So when verge does not mean simply the side of the road, people choose the word from time to time to mean a meaningful or significant stepping off point.

Lucretia's dramatic examples illustrate this perfectly (and her negative examples are also dramatic).

[Bridget]

The top 5 "on the verge of a" from the BNC:

ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=nervous&r=)5 (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=nervous&) ON THE VERGE OF A NEW (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=new&r=)4 (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=new&) ON THE VERGE OF A MAJOR (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=major&r=)3 (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=major&) ON THE VERGE OF A BREAKTHROUGH (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=breakthrough&r=)3 (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=breakthrough&) ON THE VERGE OF A MENTAL (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=mental&r=)1 (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=mental&) ON THE VERGE OF A BREAKDOWN (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=breakdown&r=)1 (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=breakdown&) ON THE VERGE OF A BIG (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=big&r=)1 (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=big&) ON THE VERGE OF A &POUND;300M-PLUS (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=£300m-plus&r=)1 (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=£300m-plus&) ON THE VERGE OF A &POUND 1 (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=£2.5&r=)ON THE VERGE OF A WONDERFUL (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=wonderful&r=)1 (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=wonderful&) ON THE VERGE OF A WAR (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x3.asp?w9=on&w10=the&w11=verge&w12=of&w13=a&w14=war&r=) 1

If you compare "verge of" and "about to" in the same corpus, top words close to "verge of" come out as: extinction, bankruptcy, breakdown, losing and quitting. For "about to", we get the top close words of: say, not, what, start and start. So, maybe Lucretia is right regarding the seemingly negative prosody of "on the verge of".

[MrPedantic]

1. to be about to do X
2. to be on the verge of doing X

Limiting the comparison to the infinitive/gerund forms, as above, I would say that in cases where both forms are possible, "about to" tends more towards "prediction" and focuses on the "next step"; while "on the verge of" tends towards "significance" and focuses on the point before the "next step".

Cf.

3. Can I call you back? I'm about to go home.
4. Can I call you back? I'm on the verge of going home.

#4 sounds a little whimsical: it injects too much significance into the statement.

Whereas here:

5. Peter's about to have a nervous breakdown.
6. Peter's on the verge of having a nervous breakdown.

the speaker in #5 seems overly confident about Peter's future mental state; #6 on the other hand describes Peter's present state, without committing the speaker to an outright prediction.

But no doubt there are contexts where the difference is trivial.

(I would also say that "on the verge of", perhaps because of its colouring, would attract more attention than "about to", if frequently used.)

MrP

[Marius Hancu]

>while "on the verge of" tends towards "significance" and focuses on the point before the "next step".

I think these obs of MrP's are valid.