have I used "adrift" correctly?

[alpacinou]

Hello.

Have I used correctly and naturally? What do you think about this sentence?

She immigrated at the age of 18. She was cut adrift from everything she had known.

 

[emsr2d2]

"immigrated" is OK as long as you're talking from the viewpoint of the country she moved to, not the one she left. The second sentence is OK although it makes it sound as if it were someone else's fault. If she moved to another country of her own volition, I don't think "She was cut adrift" works.

 

[alpacinou]

"immigrated" is OK as long as you're talking from the viewpoint of the country she moved to, not the one she left. The second sentence is OK although it makes it sound as if it were someone else's fault. If she moved to another country of her own volition, I don't think "She was cut adrift" works.

She did not want to immigrate. Because the situation in her home country got really bad, she had to immigrate. I can't say a person forced her, but the circumstances forced her to immigrate.

Does that work?

 

[emsr2d2]

In that case, she "fled" her country. That's the verb we tend to use with people who feel forced into leaving their home country, whether that's to become political asylum seekers or economic refugees.

 

[alpacinou]

A lot of people emigrate from my country these days because of the terrible economic problems. I had a student who emigrated and she was really unhappy in the U.K. Her parents kind of forced her to go so that she has a better future. And now she feels like she has been cut adrift from her previous life. I'm not sure if I'd use "flee" in her situation.

 

[emsr2d2]

It depends on whether you want to expose her reasons for emigrating. To be safe, I'd stick with "She moved to the UK at the age of eighteen".

 

[alpacinou]

She moved to the UK at the age of eighteen.

Great advice. As usual.:up:

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

A lot of people emigrate from my country these days because of the terrible economic problems. I had a student who emigrated and she was really unhappy in the U.K. Her parents kind of forced her to go so that she has a better future. And now she feels like she has been cut adrift from her previous life. I'm not sure if I'd use "flee" in her situation.

In that case, I'd say she emigrated. Or moved.

 

[Tarheel]

You might want to try:

She was lonesome.

Or:

She was homesick.