Even though he's 38, he played with abandon, scoring three goals.

I want to say someone did something with a lot of energy. Can I say they did it "with abandon"? Are these correct and natural?

1. Even though he's 38, he played with abandon, scoring three goals. This man is just getting started with football. Talk about fine wine.
2. Jane got drunk and danced with abandon on her 30th birthday.
3. You know what we need? We need to get wasted and party with abandon!
4. Jack plays with women with abandon these days. I see him with a different woman every week. I think he's making up for lost time.
5. What I need right now is to take Nicole back to my place and make love to her with abandon.
6. He loves Fiona with abandon and I'm worried he's gonna get hurt.

Sometimes it's hard to explain why you have a certain opinion. I like "with abandon" for the first two, but for the rest, not so much. (Maybe "passion" would work better with them.)

I'm already starting to change my mind about the third one. "Party with abandon" is okay with the possible sense of overdoing it. (My opinion, of course.)

"Passion" instead of "love"? Would that make them okay?

alpacinou said:

"Passion" instead of "love"? Would that make them okay?

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No. Not instead of love. In addition to it. Example: "He loves her with passion."

I'm warming up to #4 with "with abandon".

So you think the first four are okay?

1. Even though he's 38, he played with abandon, scoring three goals. This man is just getting started with football. Talk about fine wine.
2. Jane got drunk and danced with abandon on her 30th birthday.
3. You know what we need? We need to get wasted and party with abandon!
4. Jack plays with women with abandon these days. I see him with a different woman every week. I think he's making up for lost time.

Can I make these two work by changing some details?

5. What I need right now is to take Nicole back to my place and make love to her with abandon.
6. He loves Fiona with abandon and I'm worried he's gonna get hurt.

alpacinou said:

So you think the first four are okay?

1. Even though he's 38, he played with abandon, scoring three goals. This man is just getting started with football. Talk about fine wine.
2. Jane got drunk and danced with abandon on her 30th birthday.
3. You know what we need? We need to get wasted and party with abandon!
4. Jack plays with women with abandon these days. I see him with a different woman every week. I think he's making up for lost time.

Can I make these two work by changing some details?

5. What I need right now is to take Nicole back to my place and make love to her with abandon.
6. He loves Fiona with abandon and I'm worried he's gonna get hurt.

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I don't think "abandon" works in 5 and 6.
I suggest:
5. What I need right now is to take Nicole back to my place and make passionate love to/with her. (I prefer "with").
6. He loves Fiona with a passion, and I worry that he will get hurt.

Just one more thing. I would use an exclamation mark here. (See below.)

Talk about fine wine!

Why an exclamation mark? Well, it's not a regular sentence. Also, well tell what word I'm trying to think of. Anyhow, in my opinion it's an exclamation.

Just so I'm clear, are these completely okay?

1. Even though he's 38, he played with abandon, scoring three goals. This man is just getting started with football. Talk about fine wine!
2. Jane got drunk and danced with abandon on her 30th birthday.
3. You know what we need? We need to get wasted and party with abandon!
4. Jack plays with women with abandon these days. I see him with a different woman every week. I think he's making up for lost time.

@alpacinou I can't believe you're Iranian (or do you prefer Persian?). You're English is as good as mine. (Well, almost. )

I found this, which is similar to example 6:

alpacinou said:

I want to say someone did something with a lot of energy. Can I say they did it "with abandon"?

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No one seems to have pointed that that's not what "with abandon" means. It means "without worrying about the consequences".

It's not that similar. One was "He love Fiona with abandon", the other: "but there was something so raw and real about these teens. It was the rarity of love with abandon that gives meaning to the idea that love conquers all".

5jj said:

It's not that similar. One was "He love Fiona with abandon", the other: "but there was something so raw and real about these teens. It was the rarity of love with abandon that gives meaning to the idea that love conquers all".

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Fair enough. In this video, she says "he loves with abandon":


In example 5, I've written, "he loves with abandon and he might get hurt."

alpacinou said:

Can I say they did it "with abandon"? Are these correct and natural?

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In my opinion, number 2 about Jane dancing with abandon is the only one that works, though the way the entire sentence's constructed makes it sound a little stiff.


Sentence 1:

alpacinou said:

Even though he's 38, he played with abandon, scoring three goals.

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You can be 50 and play with abandon. When you do something with abandon, you do so in a completely unrestrained way. You abandon restraint and inhibition.

It's not just a matter of not caring about consequences. It's also about throwing your heart into it.

It implies you put in energy, but that's not its primary meaning, which is why it doesn't go with "Even though he's 38".

Sentence 3:

alpacinou said:

We need to get wasted and party with abandon!

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A sentence like "They celebrated with abandon" works. But this sentence as a whole, with the combination of "wasted", and "party" as a verb, and "with abandon" sounds unnatural. "With abandon" isn't all that common in such casual speech, or while suggesting getting drunk.

4, 5 and 6 also all sound incorrect to me, especially 4.

alpacinou said:

In example 5, I've written, "he loves with abandon and he might get hurt."

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I think you mean 6, not 5. And no, you haven't. You've said "He loves Fiona with abandon". It makes a difference.

"Loves with abandon" as in the video you quoted from in #13 is a general statement and a reference to a personality trait, and not to specific behaviour as in "He loves Fiona". "Abandon" fits in the sentence from the video, which isn't the same structure as yours.

Two native speakers have said the first four examples are fine.

I expressed my opinion. I'm not speaking for anyone else.