BLAME, FAULT

BLAME, FAULT

If someone gets the blame for something wrong, they are criticized by other people for being responsible for it.

1. He had to take the blame.
2. The blame for this situation lies solely with the government.
3. The point is to find out who was responsible. Whether they deserve blame is a separate matter.

A fault is a bad feature of a person’s character or a system.

4. I knew my past much better than she did — and my faults.
5. His only fault was a tendency to repeat himself.
6. Computer faults are commonplace.
7. …the National Health Service, with all its faults.

If you want to say that someone is responsible for something that is wrong, you can say either that they are to blame for it or that it is their fault.

8. In this way, attention is drawn away from who is to blame for these attacks.
9. I know you love me and that none of this is your fault.

If you say that someone who is in a difficult situation ‘has only themselves to blame‘ you mean that it is entirely their fault.

10. He has only himself to blame for his predicament.

Blame is also a verb. If you blame someone or something for something wrong or bad, you say that they are responsible for it or that they caused it.

11. I was blamed for the theft.
12. Violence at school is blamed on immigrants.