I wouldn't bet against

Open Forum in English
1

“I wouldn’t bet against him winning the championship this year.”

It means I don’t think he will win the championship, right?

Thank you!

2

Actually it means the opposite. Since bet against something means that you don’t think something will happen but there is the wouldn’t in this sentence.

I would bet against him winning the championship this year would mean that you don’t think he will win the championship.

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3

In these cases, I like to think of how it would sound if I said the opposite. If I said “I WOULD bet against…” it means, I’m confident I’ll win my bet against the other person. This works for quite a few instances for me, but sometimes it doesn’t make sense if I’m not a native, like double negatives in Russian.

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  1. I would bet on him winning the game.
  2. I would bet on him to win the game.

I wonder which is more natural.

5

Personally, I think No. 2 is more natural, but I think they are both OK.

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6

Hmm, maybe it depends somewhat on the Aktionsart of the verb?

If the verb describes some kind of continuous or habitual action, then I think I’d tend to use (1.) But if it is a particular or ‘one-off’ kind of action, then maybe I’d tend to use (2.)

Thus:

“I’d bet on Yoda using Nivea cream every day.”

“I’d bet on Yoda to get stood up on a date”.

But it’s not clear cut. I’m sure there are plenty of instances where (1.) and (2.) are completely interchangeable.

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Thank you, Prinz.

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  1. I would bet on his winning the game.

How about this?

I imagine that “winning” in this sentence is not a present-participle form but a gerund.

9

Interesting how the answers to these “which is more natural” questions always vary. I guess that shows how nuanced they sometimes are. Some of it comes from native speakers from different regions or social spheres. Some come from non-native speakers answering, which always seems a bit odd to me (though I know some here are more fluent in correct English than some native speakers.)

In my mid-American sphere, #1 is what I would expect to hear and would be likely to utter in all instances. #2 is grammatically correct but sounds less conversational to me. The same with “… on his winning the game”.

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10

Can say it but nobody ever would.

11
  1. I wouldn’t bet against you mastering two languages during the summer.
  2. I wouldn’t bet against your mastering two languages during the summer.
  3. I wouldn’t bet against you to master two languages during the summer.
12

All fine, second one less natural.

13

It seems that your “less natural” means “formal”.
Do you think that it is extremely formal or relatively formal, [[Paivi]]?
I personally feel that relatively formal expressions are preferable than extremely informal expressions.

14

“1. I wouldn’t bet against you mastering two languages during the summer.“

Is the “mastering” in the above sentence a gerund or a present participle?
The “you” seems to be modified by the “mastering…”. On the other hand, If “your” is used instead of “you”, it definitely modifies “mastering …”, which is a gerund.

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