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 @ niftyserve . or . jp > umesaki @ tezukayama-u . ac . jp > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
