Adjectives formed from verbs

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lpycharles: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 21; Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 3:32 am

by lpycharles » Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:48 pm

In the notecards I downladed from the sticky notes, I saw this -

Peter, distracted by his cat and wanting to do his work ..

Shouldn't "wanting" be "wanted"?

In general, is it true that using an adjective to describe a person/animal's feelings, we should use past participle, for example, "I am bored", and to describe how a thing makes someone feels, for example, we use a present participle, for example, "The is a boring movie"?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:48 pm

Indradeep: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 117; Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:29 amFollowed by: 5 members; Location: Australia; Thanked: 4 times; GMAT Score:760

by Indradeep » Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:15 pm

Hi,

Peter, distracted by his cat and wanting to do his work ..

The above sentence shows that Peter's wanting to work and getting distracted happened together.
So ... should be followed by <simple past>

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

Re: Adjectives formed from verbs

by lunarpower » Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:04 am

lpycharles wrote:In the notecards I downladed from the sticky notes, I saw this -

Peter, distracted by his cat and wanting to do his work ..

Shouldn't "wanting" be "wanted"?

In general, is it true that using an adjective to describe a person/animal's feelings, we should use past participle, for example, "I am bored", and to describe how a thing makes someone feels, for example, we use a present participle, for example, "The is a boring movie"?

wrong criterion.

a better criterion would be this:
if the corresponding verb would appear in the active voice, then you should use an "-ing" participle.
if the corresponding verb would appear in the passive voice, then you should use an "-ed" participle.

note that the proper form of "distract" would be in the passive voice:
peter was distracted by the cat.
therefore, distracted

on the other hand, "want" would be in the active voice:
peter wants / wanted to do his work.
therefore, wanting

this criterion should apply whenever you're choosing between these two forms of participles.

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