Frightened vs. fearful

[Rudolf]

Test No. incompl/inter-3 "If you tend to forget", question 10

Sociologists maintain that some of the films on show today have created a generation of very ......... children.

(a) frightened
(b) afraid
(c) fearful
(d) frightening

Test No. incompl/inter-3 "If you tend to forget", answer 10

Sociologists maintain that some of the films on show today have created a generation of very frightened children.

Correct answer: (a) frightened

Your answer was: incorrect
Sociologists maintain that some of the films on show today have created a generation of very fearful children.
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Why word fearful doesn't fit in here?
thank you

[Torsten]

Fearful children are terrible children, that means they make other people afraid.
In the sentence you are referring to we are talking about children who are scared themselves - they are frightened.

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[Yustas]

Hi,

Could you explain the difference between "frightened children" and "afraid children" ?

Why we can't use "afraid" if this example ?

Thank you

[Alan]

Hi Yustas,

In this sentence frightened children means that they are full of fear because they have seen films that have made them like this, Afraid is not usually used attributively as you have asked in your question - in other words you can't use it before a noun as you can with frightened (frightened children). You have to use in this way: The chidren are afraid of the films. (You use it predicatively).

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Yustas]

Thanks Alan

Now it's clear for me

[Blue3022000]

Hello

Could you explain the difference between "frightened children" and "frightening children" ?

Thanks a lot!

[Alan]

Hi,

'Frightened children' are children who have seen/experienced something which has scared/frightened them. 'Frightening children' are children who make other people frightened.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[Raperonzolo]

fearful...

I thought it was something like "full of fear"...

and NO! It isn't so... ohhhh :cry: sometimes I think "my God, I don't know English

and I thought I did"

and feel very SAD :cry:

[Kitosdad]

Raperonzolo, don't be sad. I've been exposed to my native language for decades, and I still don't understand most of it.

Kitos.
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Keep it simple ... Keep it interesting.

[Danila88]

Hello Raperonzolo!
Don't worry about that!
According to Oxford dictionary fearful means ‘full of fear; frightened, apprehensive’
Consequently you were right!
Best wishes//

[Cgk]

Hi,

isn't "fearful" and "frightened" synonymous, but "frightened" stronger than "fearful"? I chose fearful because frightened seemed to strong of a word to me. Whenever I hear somebody say "fearful children" they say it in situations like going to the dentist, etc. To me, "fearful" is along the line with "suffering an anxiety"; "frightened" seems more like a shock reaction, like "scared" or "terrified". This is the first time I see "fearful" being used as a synonym for "terrible", but live and learn ...

[Alan]

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Hi,

'Fearful' is an adjective that's gone downhill and has about the same value now as 'terrible' and 'awful'. These two words originally meant 'full of terror' and 'full of awe'. In some 19th century hymns there is use of the expression 'God's awful face', which meant the face of God was such that it filled you with a deep sense of fear and respect. Today you can quite happily say: You look awful this morning. What did you get up to last night?

We're on safer ground with 'frightened' that describes 'feeling afraid.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Passive Voice

[Cgk]

Is it like this in all of the English speaking countries, or is it a regional thing?

[BenDover23]

I think this question is wrong because fearfull is still used both meaning frightened and frightenous.

Guatemala City residents (are) fearful after factory disappears into sinkhole
source

With just a simple googling i found out an excerpt of a similar text ,talking about children and television which says:

[Beeesneees]

Fearful is incorrect for the reasons that have been provided. There is not an entire generation of fearful children. Some children may become fearful, but not all children.
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Cheers m' dears!