Possible homonym?

Question

“... le succès n’est pas près de se démentir” . Instead of près I put prêt in the last sentence. Just wondering if that was a possible option. That is, instead of “the success is not near to be denied” my alternate would be “the success is not ready to be denied” ? Or does that make no sense?

Accepted Answer

Hi Paul,
The expressions -

être prêt à faire quelque chose = to be ready/to be willing to do something
and
être près de faire quelque chose = être sur le point de faire qq chose = to be about to do something

They mean two different things.
I found an interesting page with lots of examples which you might find helpful :
http://plume-et-gribouilles.blogspot.com/2017/08/etre-pret-de-ou-etre-pres-de-faire.html
Bonne Continuation!

Answer

Hi Paul,
Modern usage dictates the form prêt à faire [qch] although in the past prêt de had some currency.
See this note from the Académie: http://www.academie-francaise.fr/pret-pres-de
Tom