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 #32 (permalink) Mon Jun 07, 2010 14:17 pm Frightened vs. fearful |
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Hi,
To repeat what I said above:
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| 'Fearful' in its original sense means full of fear in the particular sense of being afraid to do something wrong, almost in a sense of respect. Imagine a situation where you have to be careful about what you say, what words you use because if you say the wrong word, you will be in trouble. This describes the state of being 'fearful' as in: He was fearful of saying the wrong thing and as a result upsetting her. |
And you couldn't apply this to the children in the test.
(Doubting) Alan
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Alan
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| #33 (permalink) Mon Jun 07, 2010 15:43 pm Frightened vs. fearful |
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| Alan wrote: |
| 'Fearful' in its original sense means full of fear in the particular sense of being afraid to do something wrong, ... |
That's rather slippery of you, Alan. That addresses one sort of fear, but why not simply admit that there may be a difference in usage between British English and American English, and then change the test so that the incorrect choices are actually incorrect in terms of the way words are currently used? (A stubborn refusal to make such a change would be rather reminiscent of 'dumb' vs 'stupid'... Ahem.) ;-)
From the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy:
"... the decade's spectacular increases in murder, burglary, and all kinds of violent crimes caused fearful people to buy guns."
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"Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold." ~ Helen Keller |
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 Esl_Expert
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| #34 (permalink) Fri Jul 23, 2010 20:44 pm frighten, frightening and frightened |
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I wonder nobody's been talking about this.
Interesting for me is here frighten, frightening and frightened because I've changed it here.
I've noticed in my own dictionary:
A man frightens sharks.
It's wrong to say;
A man frightened sharks.
or
A man is just frightening sharks.
That's why frightened and frightening are independent words with own maenings.These words are not participles of frighten.
That means:
A frightening man is standing at the table holding a big shark in his hand.
The frightened, big shark is trembling in the man's hand for the last time.
And now let's eat:
A shark-eating man is lingering at the table.
The fish bones of a big, eaten shark are lying on the table.
At last the wisdom:
A little, fearfull cute is putting away the remains of a frightingly big shark.
Please correct me and have fun... |
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Capablanca
I'm new here and I like it ;-)
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| #35 (permalink) Tue Mar 22, 2011 16:24 pm Frightened vs. fearful |
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| I see,this topic very helpful :D |
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Maketaof
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