A sense of freedom

[Strawberry girl]

Test No. incompl/inter-21 "The two Butter Frogs", question 3

At first they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and for the first time in their lives experienced ..........

(a) a sense of free
(b) a sense of freeing
(c) a sense of freed
(d) a sense of freedom

Test No. incompl/inter-21 "The two Butter Frogs", answer 3

At first they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and for the first time in their lives experienced a sense of freedom.

Correct answer: (d) a sense of freedom

Your answer was: incorrect
At first they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and for the first time in their lives experienced a sense of free.
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HI,
I thought that the sense of something could be a feel,so I chose the adjective.Is that right?

[Mister Micawber]

No, sorry, Strawberry Girl-- the preposition of requires a noun object: freedom.

We could think of freeing as a gerund (a verb form used as a noun), but it does not usually collocate with sense, and certainly does not do so in this context-- the people are enjoying a sense of freedom: this is a stock phrase.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Alan]

Hi Strawberry,

Remember that the noun from the verb feel is feeling. In my list of words you chose the adjective free, which unfortunately doesn't work. If you wanted to use the word free, it would have to read as follows: a sense of being free. Consider these other expressions: a sense of fun /a sense of humour/ a sense of balance/a sense of justice.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Have a Break!