8.1089, FYI: Acceptability of English Adjectives

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-8-1089. Sat Jul 26 1997. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 8.1089, FYI: Acceptability of English Adjectives

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1)
Date:  Thu, 24 Jul 1997 08:44:32 -0500 (EST)
From:  kristi lynne coburn <kcoburn at indiana.edu>
Subject:  Acceptability of English Adjectives

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 24 Jul 1997 08:44:32 -0500 (EST)
From:  kristi lynne coburn <kcoburn at indiana.edu>
Subject:  Acceptability of English Adjectives


	I am going to use a different marking system, A for acceptable, U
for unacceptable, and there are none which I am unsure about.  I have also
added WHY they are unacceptable to me.
	By the way, I am a native of Seattle.




> Dear Linguists,
>
>      About a week ago I posted the following query.
>
> >I am working on English adjectives. Are the following sentences
> >acceptable? If acceptable, please mark them with a check.
> >If not acceptable, please mark them with a cross. If uncertain
> >or dubious, please mark them with a question mark. Any
> >comment is welcome.
> >
>A >(1)  John was careful to lock the door.
>U >(2)  John was greedy to keep all the money to himself.
	Ifyou change the preposition to for, then it's acceptable to me
>A >(3)  John was worthy to be praised by them all.
>A >(4)  The place is convenient to visit.
>A >(5)  John is jealous that she succeeded.
>A >(6)  John was bored to hear her endless talk.
>A >(7)  John was confused to be told to do so many things at once.
>A >(8)  John was hurt to be insulted.
>U >(9)  I am eager that they should win.
	for them to win, jproblem with using a modal

>A >(10) John was incredulous that Mary put it into practice.
>U >(11) Mary is keen that we should go.
	British, again, keen is a problem for me, but I won't count that
in deciding if it's acceptable or not since it's only a lexical
difference.  However, the ues of the modal here is wrong for me (by the
way, I spent a year in France teaching English in a French University, so
I am familiar with the British system.
>A >(12) It was heroic of them to oppose the invader.
>U >(13) John was irresponsible to sabotage his duties.
	can't sabatoge duties
>A >(14) It is significant that they worked as volunteers.
>A >(15) It is sufficient to give him some money.
>U >(16) It is not suitable to dress casual at a wedding reception.
> 	casually

>      I have received 17 replies.  I would like to thank those who gave
> wme answers and comments.  The following is the numbers of informants
> who indicated respective acceptability in each sentence.
>
>     acceptable    dubious/    unacceptable
>                  uncertain
> (1)    16            1            0
> (2)     7            4            6
> (3)     7            7            3
> (4)    15            1            1
> (5)    13            3            1
> (6)     8            2            7
> (7)     6            3            8
> (8)     7            2            8
> (9)    11            4            2
> (10)   15            2            0
> (11)   11            3            3
> (12)   16            0            1
> (13)    6            3            8
> (14)   17            0            0
> (15)   16            1            0
> (16)   10            1            6
>
>     Part of discussion and analysis of this data will be presented by
> Professor Katsumasa Yagi (Kwansei Gakuin University, JAPAN) at the
> 24th LACUS Forum to be held at the University of York, Toronto,
> Ontario, Canada on 2nd August and in his subsequent papers.
>
> - ----------------------------------------
> Atsuko Umesaki(Tezukayama College)
> e-mail:SGS03312 at niftyserve.or.jp
>        umesaki at tezukayama-u.ac.jp
> - ---------------------------------------
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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