To pull

[irmamar]

Many families were pulled off/out from farms and small towns to large urban areas.

What do you think?

Thanks.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Many families were pulled off/out from farms and small towns to large urban areas.

Many families were pulled from farms and small towns to large urban areas.

Many families were pulled off farms ...
Many families were pulled out of small towns ...

But you can't combine them, so you need a preposition which could be correct for both.

Personally, I would say

Many families were lured from farms and small towns to large urban areas.

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Many families were pulled from farms and small towns to large urban areas.

Many families were pulled off farms ...
Many families were pulled out of small towns ...

But you can't combine them, so you need a preposition which could be correct for both.

Personally, I would say

Many families were lured from farms and small towns to large urban areas.

But "lure" means "atraer", while "pull" means "empujar, arrastrar". Those families needed to go to the cities to look for a job. They could find the job or not.

[Perikles]

Yes, but it is the prospect of a better job that has lured them to the town. They believed that life would be better in the town, and that belief lured them.

This verb is commonly used in this context. Would I dare to tell you something incorrect?

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Yes, but it is the prospect of a better job that has lured them to the town. They believed that life would be better in the town, and that belief lured them.

This verb is commonly used in this context. Would I dare to tell you something incorrect?

I know it, I just wanted to give you the correct context (for a better understanding).

[Perikles]

Yes, lots of families were forced to move because they were starving. But not everyone was forced - there were others who moved because they had heard stories of how much better life was, and these were lured.

[vita32]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Many families were pulled off/out from farms and small towns to large urban areas.

What do you think?

Thanks.

Irma, if you ask me, I would prefer to use "pulled out of the farms" or "forced out of the farms......," which of course implies that they did not go on their own free will.

If they intended to move, then, it could be written as, "Many families moved out of the farms....." The presence or absence of the word "were" affects the meaning of the sentence.

[irmamar]

OK, thank you both.

I think I like "were pulled from".

[vita32]

Originally Posted by irmamar

OK, thank you both.

I think I like "were pulled from".

I think this is correct too.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by vita32

Irma, if you ask me, I would prefer to use "pulled out of the farms" or "forced out of the farms......," which of course implies that they did not go on their own free will.

We could talk forever about this but:

forced out of the farms...... means that some force on the farm, (such as an evil landlord), removed them. This is not the case, and is misleading.

pulled out of the farms... means that some force in the big town (I can't think what) used force to move them to the town. This is not correct either.

The fact is that the people were encouraged or persuaded to move to big towns by economical factors. You may like the verb 'pull', but it doesn't make it correct.

[laepelba]

Um ... first of all, I thought that "empujar" meant "push", not "pull", (??) which (to me) gives an entirely different meaning. Like Perikles said, I feel like to say that they were "pulled" off of the farms makes me think that someone physically grabbed them (literally grabbed them by the arm/body) and physically put them on buses (or whatever) and forcibly took them to the urban areas. But if you were to say that they were "pushed" off of the farms, I would see that as more figurative and less literally physical.....

[Cloudgazer]

I agree with what Perikles, Vita, and Laepelba have said. As mentioned, the different reasons why families moved from rural to urban areas can't be clearly communicated by a single verb. Also, for me, more needs to be included in the sentence to support the verb choices, something like:

Many families were compelled/forced by poverty to leave farms and small towns for large urban areas, while others were lured by the prospects of a better life.

-or-

Where previously many families had been lured from farms and small towns to large urban areas in hopes of improving their lives, now they were forced to move to the cities simply to survive.

Another

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

A couple of minutes ago, in some document I was reading, I found: "[These people] were forced from their homes by the government".
Would a similar construction work for the purpose of Irma's original sentence like: "Many families were forced from farms and small towns to large urban areas by poverty (or so)"
And a second question... Would "to be forced from a place" necessarily need a "by whom"?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

"[These people] were forced from their homes by the government".
Would a similar construction work for the purpose of Irma's original sentence like: "Many families were forced from farms and small towns to large urban areas by poverty (or so)"
And a second question... Would "to be forced from a place" necessarily need a "by whom"?

Yes, the above sentence is grammatically correct, but historically inaccurate (I think). (Lots were indeed starving and this forced them to move, but that is an over-simplification. Many could have stayed but were attracted by the belief in an easier life.)

Second question: a "by whom" is not strictly necessary, but then it leaves a question in the air which needs to be answered:

"Many families were forced from farms and small towns to large urban areas." OK, but why ????????

"There was widespread famine. Many families were forced from farms and small towns to large urban areas." The reason is already given.

[laepelba]

Well, it's not a question of "by whom" but "by "what agent" ... persons, situations, circumstances, etc.

As far as historical accuracy, in how many situations does the word "force" actually mean that someone was physically compelled to do something against which they are fighting. We use the word "force" in a broader sense than that. I caught a student with his cell phone during a test last week. I was forced to take disciplinary action. (Okay, yeah, I could have ignored it, or done something non-disciplinary, because no one took my hand and physically forced me to write the discipline referral ... but I have no problem using the word "forced" in that situation because there are no alternate solutions that would truly teach this student and the others the lesson that they need to learn in this situation.)

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Thank you both very much for the answers... opinions apart, I'll learn these constructions.