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Thanks3 Posted 4 years ago
Grammar

Anxious?

Q1. What's the meaning of this sentence, "She is anxious for us to see her photos."?

"She feels uneasy because we might see her photos" or "She wants us to see her photos very badly." or both are possible according to contexts?


Q2. What about this one? "She is anxious for us seeing her photos." Is this right, too? If so, what's the meaning of it? Does it have multiple meangs, too?


Q3. "I was anxious for time to move on." means "I wanted time to pass quickly." or "I was afraid that time might pass quickly." or both are possible?

  

Top answer

OK. Context does make a difference, and the following guidelines may not apply 100% of the time, but generally when 'anxious' means 'eager', the structure is 1) to be anxious (for someone) to do something , and when 'anxious' means 'fearful', 'nervous', or 'uneasy', the structure is 2) to be anxious about (someone) do+ing something . These are for cases where there is a verb involved in the complement of 'anxious'.

— CalifJim

  • OK.
  • Context does make a difference, and the following guidelines may not apply 100% of the time, but generally when 'anxious' means 'eager', the structure is 1) to be anxious (for someone) to do something , and when 'anxious' means 'fearful', 'nervous', or 'uneasy', the structure is 2) to be anxious about (someone) do+ing something .
  • These are for cases where there is a verb involved in the complement of 'anxious'.
  • 1) The family are anxious to rebuild their lives.
  • She and her children are anxious for the construction project to begin.
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2 Answers
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OK. Context does make a difference, and the following guidelines may not apply 100% of the time, but generally

when 'anxious' means 'eager', the structure is

1) to be anxious (for someone) to do something,

and when 'anxious' means 'fearful', 'nervous', or 'uneasy', the structure is

2) to be anxious about (someone) do+ing something.

These are for cas

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Read the "Usage Note" at the American Heritage Dictionary here: https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=anxious . I am one of those who think that "anxious" in the sense "eager" is a mistake. It is at least trendy and informal in my book.

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