Our listener Jill Mahaney was reading an article in Time, when she noticed a peculiar sentence: “A pair of beaten-up Toyota Land Cruisers awaited on the other side.”
Mahaney wondered about the correct usage of “awaited,” and whether “waited” could've or should’ve been used instead.
The construction of this sentence is unusual. What exactly are the trucks awaiting? As it turns it out, they need not be awaiting anything. That’s because it’s possible for “await” to function independently without an object.
Usage guides such as Bryan Garner's Modern English Usage will offer the general guidance that "await," as a verb, is transitive and requires an object. For example, you can await someone's arrival or await a response. Conversely, “wait” is intransitive and can stand alone, as in “I’ll wait.”
However, this distinction doesn't always hold up, because "await" can be used without an object. Merriam Webster defines the intransitive version of “await” as “to stay or be in waiting” as in, "The nation awaited as Congress debated the issue." No object required.
Moreover, “await” can also be used either transitively or intransitively with the meaning “to be in store.“ You can say, "I wonder what awaits her," or simply, "I wonder what awaits."
Similarly, "wait" is often used intransitively, as in "I'll wait," but it can also function transitively, as in, "I'll wait my turn."
One complication that does pop up with "wait" is which preposition to use with it. Many of us use "wait for," as in, "I'll wait for you." What about waiting on something though? To hear about that, listen to the audio above.
