LIKING, ANNOYING and adjectives

Verbs from the LIKING and ANNOYING types describe the feelings an Experiencer (who must be human or a higher animal) has about a Stimulus. For LIKING the Experiencer may control the activity, and is mapped onto subject function (e.g. John tried to like Mary). For ANNOYING the Experiencer has no possibility of control but in some circumstances control may lie with the Stimulus if it is human, and Stimulus is thus in subject relation (e.g. Mary tried to please/annoy John).

The Stimulus may be some object, referred to by an NP (e.g. Mary hates horses), or some habitual or durative activity, shown by an ING clause (Mary hates riding horses). Or it can involve Label-plus-preposition-plus Content. The Label can be an NP with an abstract noun as head, or else just it; the Content can be an NP or a THAT, ING or Modal (FOR) TO complement clause.

A LIKING verb can relate just to the Experiencer’s feelings about the fact of a certain thing happening (they may not be at all interested in the internal details of the event). A THAT complement is then appropriate, as in:

(80a) I like it that Mary sings the blues each Friday evening (because she goes out, and I get peace to work out my betting system for Saturday’s races)

Or the LIKING verb may relate to the Experiencer’s feelings about some activity as it unfolds; ING is then the appropriate complement choice:

(80b) I like Mary (’s) singing the blues (and could listen to her all night)

Or, the Experiencer might have good (or bad) feelings about the complement clause subject’s getting involved in an activity (without necessarily enjoying the activity per se); a Modal (FOR) TO complement would then be used:

(80c) I like (it for) Mary to sing the blues (because she makes a lot of money doing it)

(80d) I would like Mary to sing the blues (because I think her voice is just right for that style—although in fact my own preference is for opera)

We described how the for should be omitted when the emotional feeling described by the LIKING verb is directed particularly at the complement clause subject, rather than at the whole clause; it must then also drop, and the complement clause subject becomes surface object of the main verb.

It is perfectly normal for the complement clause subject to be different from the main clause subject, or equally for them to be coreferential. In the latter case the complement clause subject drops from an ING or Modal (FOR) TO clause (and then for and it also drop), e.g. I like singing the blues, I like to sing the blues.

Only some LIKING verbs have the width of meaning that allows all three complement choices; they include like, love, hate, prefer. Other verbs—such as loathe, admire, value, regret, (don’t) care about—can relate to feelings about the fact of some event or about a durational activity, but less readily to a potentiality of involvement; these are unlikely to be found with Modal (FOR) TO complements. A third set of LIKING verbs are pretty well restricted by their meanings to reference to durational activity and thus to an ING complement, e.g. enjoy ‘get pleasure from something happening’, object to ‘take exception to something happening’. Finally, there are worship and fall for, which must have an entity (i.e. an NP, and not a complement clause) as Stimulus, e.g. He worships Allah/money, She fell for him.

Subject and object possibilities are effectively reversed between the LIKING and ANNOYING types. THAT, ING and Modal (FOR) TO complements may, as Stimulus, fill the subject slot for ANNOYING verbs. Complement clause subject can be omitted when it is coreferential with main clause subject, from an ING or a Modal (FOR) TO clause (the for also drops). THAT and Modal (FOR) TO complements can be extraposed to the end of the main clause with it then filling subject slot. Note that for can never be omitted when complement clause subject is retained (even under extraposition.

The same semantic principles apply as with LIKING. An ANNOYING verb can relate to the Experiencer’s feelings about the fact of some event, referred to by a THAT clause:

(81a) That Phil is now dating Ann surprises me/It surprises me that Phil is now dating Ann

Or it can refer to an ongoing activity, referred to by an ING clause:

(81b) Fred(’s) telling jokes all evening entertained us greatly

Or to the potentiality of someone’s getting involved in some activity:

(81c) It would please me for John to marry Mary

(81d) It might confuse you to try to learn three new languages all at the same time

When there is a Modal (FOR) TO clause as Stimulus—with an ANNOYING or a LIKING verb—the main clause predicate often includes a MODAL, as in (80d), (81c), (81d). Indeed, there is often also a SEMI-MODAL in the Modal (FOR) TO clause (which, of course, cannot include a MODAL), as in:

(82) To have to carry a fifty-kilo pack on my back would exhaust me

The ANNOYING type carries a wide semantic range (far broader than LIKING), e.g. scare, surprise, offend, delight, amuse, worry, annoy, anger, puzzle, interest, disgust, tire. It seems that all these verbs have the potential for taking all three kinds of subject complement; but most do have preferences that are determined by their individual meanings, e.g. surprise is perhaps most used with a THAT clause, satisfy with an ING complement.

Turning now to Adjectives, we find that the VALUE type and a number of subtypes of HUMAN PROPENSITY propensity have similar meanings and complement possibilities to ANNOYING and LIKING verbs. Fond (of), from HUMAN PROPENSITY, refers to a durational activity and thus takes an ING clause, similar to enjoy, e.g. She’s fond of listening to Bach, She enjoys listening to Bach.

Adjectives from the ANGRY, HAPPY and UNSURE subtypes have similar meanings to the past participles of ANNOYING verbs. The UNSURE set involves the speaker’s assessment about some potential event and is confined to THAT or WH- complements, e.g. I’m certain that a crime was committed but I’m unsure (about) who to blame. The ANGRY subtype—including angry (about), jealous (of), mad (about)—describes an emotional reaction to some definite happening (either the fact of an event, or some durational activity), and may take a THAT or ING complement, e.g. Fred was angry that Mary resigned, I’m sad about John’s digging up the flower garden. Verbs from the HAPPY subtype—including anxious (about), happy (about), afraid (of)—deal with an emotional response to some actual or potential happen ing; besides THAT and ING they may also take a Modal (FOR) TO complement, relating to the potentiality of complement clause subject becoming involved in an event, e.g. I’d be happy/afraid (for Mary) to cross the desert alone.

VALUE adjectives provide a judgement about some unit event or durational activity and may take a THAT or ING clause in subject function, e.g. It is good that Mary plays hockey, Flying kites is amusing; subset (b) may also have a Modal (FOR) TO subject complement, e.g. It was strange for Mary to resign like that. Some VALUE adjectives are similar in meaning and syntax to ANNOYING verbs, except that the latter relate the emotional judgement to a specific Experiencer (in object slot), whereas VALUE adjectives purport to give an objective, impersonal judgement— compare the examples just given with It pleases her uncle that Mary plays hockey, Flying kites amuses some people, It puzzled me for Mary to resign like that. Compare also That John likes Bach is curious/surprising with That John likes Bach interests/surprises me.

Adjectives from the EAGER subtype of HUMAN PROPENSITY are similar in meaning and syntax to WANTING verbs, expressing the Principal’s attitude towards some event or state that is not (yet) real. Like WANTING verbs, EAGER adjectives can take a THAT or a Modal (FOR) TO complement, e.g. I’m eager (for Mary) to enter the race, I want (Mary) to enter the race. Ready focuses on the subject’s involvement in some activity and is restricted to a Modal (FOR) TO complement; it is thus like want, need and prepare from the WANTING type.

Those adjectives which are most different in meaning from verbs are the DIFFICULTY and QUALIFICATION types, and the CLEVER and HONEST subtypes of HUMAN PROPENSITY. Some QUALIFICATION adjectives—such as definite, probable, true—provide a factual qualification regarding a definite event, and are restricted to THAT subject complements, e.g. It is true that John forged Mary’s signature. Others describe the speaker’s opinion about some actual or potential happening and may take THAT or Modal (FOR) TO subject complements, e.g. It is normal/sensible for a policeman to carry a gun. One group of QUALIFICATION adjectives relates to the potentiality of the complement subject behaving in a certain way; this subject may then be raised from an extraposed Modal (FOR) TO complement to replace it in main clause subject slot—compare It is likely that al-Qaeda will bomb New York (the event is likely) with Al-Qaeda is likely to bomb New York (it is likely that the al-Qaeda terrorist organization will act in this way).

Adjectives in the CLEVER and HONEST subtypes of HUMAN PROPENSITY have similar properties. They can relate to a unit event, through THAT, or to someone’s involvement in an activity, through Modal (FOR) TO, e.g. It was stupid that no one answered the door, It would be stupid for John to ignore those rumors. These adjectives may also directly describe some person, who is in subject slot, with a preposition introducing a clause that gives the reason for this description, e.g. John is stupid in the way that he is always trying to buck authority.

Adjectives from the DIFFICULTY class may relate to some specific involvement in an event, through a Modal (FOR) TO subject complement, e.g. It is hard for young children to sit still during a long sermon. Or they can refer to some very general mode of behavior, then taking as subject an ING complement with subject omitted, e.g. Cooking scones is easy (for some people).

The difficulty or value of an activity may be a function of the object of the complement clause, and there is an alternative construction with this NP as subject of the adjective, e.g. Scones are easy to cook.

The BUSY subtype of HUMAN PROPENSITY relates to continuing activity, and is thus restricted to an ING complement clause, as in She is currently preoccupied with marking the exam papers.