which word is not used with "gift"

Question

Here it is given 4 options:give a gift, deny a gift, refuse a gift and receive a gift.

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

You can certainly give, refuse or receive a gift, when gift means something given from one person to another. So that would leave out "deny".

The problem is that gift has more than one meaning. A "gift" can also mean "talent", for instance someone might have a gift for playing the piano, in other words be a talented pianist.

If he or she then chose not to develop this talent, one could say that he denied his gift, that is the talent that was given him.

Obviously, the person who gave you this test question was not thinking about that.

J

Oh, I see now, thank you very much. Tihs is from a coursebook "Interchange" - xentuk, Jul 5, 2011

Answer 2

deny

deny as refute or disavow wouldn't fit most contexts, but refuse or turn down certainly does.

I expect to hear some specious reasoning for the answer. (like give a gift is redundant if gifts is a verb; not a noun)

Answer 3

I thougt it was 'deny' but google offers this version too, so I honestly don't know

Answer 4

Which do you think it is and why.

Answer 5

"Deny a gift" is much less common, and I have never said it, but there are situations where it could conceivably be used, even though it would sound wrong to many people.

Answer 6

"Give a gift" can actually be reduced to simply "gift"... though not used much in my area:

Gift (verb)

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The 'deny' and 'refuse' are almost interchangeable, but per Lorenzo, 'deny a gift' is less commonly used and may therefore sound awkward...