I felt a mixture of reverence and fear

[supermarioutd]

Hello,

I want to say that I saw an elephant in nature. I was scared a little bit and at the same time I felt respect and admiration for the animal. Does this work? :


I was fortunate enough to come across a massive elephant in the wild. I felt a mixture of reverence and fear towards that giant.

Does this sentence work? If not please let me know how you would put it.

If there are better words I can use please let me know.

 

[lingobingo]

I’m personally not comfortable with the notion of feeling fear towards something, but I suppose it’s okay. It would of course be easy to avoid the word if you wanted to.

 

[supermarioutd]

I’m personally not comfortable with the notion of feeling fear towards something, but I suppose it’s okay. It would of course be easy to avoid the word if you wanted to.

So how would you say it? It's important to underscore the fear factor. Is preposition the problem?

 

[supermarioutd]

I felt a mixture of reverence and fear for that giant elephant.

Is it better?

 

[velisarius]

If you fear "for" someone (or some animal), you are worried about their well-being. I fear for my son when he drives his car too fast.

It's a little awkward when you choose words that require different prepositions:

I felt a mixture of reverence for, and fear of, that giant.
Face to face with that giant, I felt a mixture of reverence and fear.

 

[Edinburgher]

The way to get around the problem is to rephrase it so that no prepositions are required. For example:
In the proximity of that giant, I felt a mixture of reverence and fear.

 

[Barque]

I was fortunate enough to come across a massive elephant in the wild. I felt a mixture of reverence and fear towards that giant.

You could just stop after "fear". From the previous sentence, the reader or listener would understand you meant it was because of the elephant.

 

[lingobingo]

… all of which suggestions are what I was hinting at in #2.

 

[supermarioutd]

Face to face with that giant, I felt a mixture of reverence and fear.

This is very good

 

[Packard]

I agree with Velisarius; "felt fear" works without the "towards". I think we are more likely fearful "of" than we are fearful "to".

I led a group on a hike in the Colorado's Elk Mountains and when we rounded a bend I came face to face with an elk (smaller than an elephant, but still about 700 pounds and about six feet away).

Face to face with the elk I felt fear, and later a sense of reverence for that giant.

 

[supermarioutd]

I agree with Velisarius; "felt fear" works without the "towards". I think we are more likely fearful "of" than we are fearful "to".

I led a group on a hike in the Colorado's Elk Mountains and when we rounded a bend I came face to face with an elk (smaller than an elephant, but still about 700 pounds and about six feet away).

Face to face with the elk I felt fear, and later a sense of reverence for that giant.

This is good too but later doesn't work for me. I want to suggest I experienced those two feelings simultaneously.

 

[Packard]

This is good too but later doesn't work for me. I want to suggest I experienced those two feelings simultaneously.

I guess I could not multi-task. I suspect that in situations where the fear is great and genuine,it pushes to the forefront and makes other feelings secondary. That might be my experience only, however.