On 2012-12-01 01:03, Moray Allan wrote:
For me "to threaten to resign" is a standard phrase, which does not automatically include any negative judgement on the one who says that they will resign (it's a fairly common phrase in political contexts).
I suppose that in my use of English (and I think this is general), a "threat" is not necessarily something that the speaker/writer judges as negative, but is defined by being about something that the person receiving the threat doesn't want to happen.
(On the other hand, I think that the adjective "threatening" shows a negative judgement by the speaker/writer.)
-- Moray