逃げる literally means "run away", which is natural to be intransitive even if you speak English. It also takes an argument with ~から, that corresponds to "from". 逃れる has a few different shades of meaning. 1. To keep away from a certain point where a (clear and present) danger exists. The "point" could mean a bomb, a burning building, or a man wielding his knife etc. In this sense, we use [point]-から逃れる. 2. To go out of (escape) a hostile area. "Area" means that it is a certain expanse of space, which could be an unstable country, a concrete jungle, or the state of poverty. In this case, we usually use [area]-を逃れる. 3. To avoid possible bad consequence in the future, which is not realized at this moment, but easily imaginable as a menace. Like arrest, public blame, or bankruptcy. It is also used in [consequence]-を逃れる. ~を逃げる sounds just wrong to me, although I can suppose that some people might use such a construction by analogy with 逃れる. So your last sample phrase 役員を逃げた is pretty much ungrammatical, while 役員を逃れた is understandable in the way you evade being appointed executive. --- **Edit**: After some discussion in the [chatroom][1], the transitive ~を逃げる might be a kind of older wording. It is very rare in [BCCWJ][2] (1976-) and have some appearances in [青空文庫][3] (out-of-copyright books). Modern speakers would not recognize this usage. We more naturally reword them in the present-day language. > 役員を逃げる → 役員を回避する (?) > 税そのものを逃げる → 税そのものを逃れる > 網の目を逃げている → 網の目をかわしている > 胸苦しさを逃げるために → 胸苦しさから逃げるために Note that there are another "locational" を, which means "through" or "via", and does not make a verb transitive. > 地下道を逃げるのよ!早く! > _Run (away) through the basement (passage)! Hurry!_ [1]: https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/511/2020/9/19 [2]: https://pj.ninjal.ac.jp/corpus_center/bccwj/ [3]: https://www.aozora.gr.jp/