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Adjectives formed from verbs

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Adjectives formed from verbs

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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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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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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