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Cynthia3754 Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary

Attention Teachers!!!

I am needing assistance by getting as many opinions as possible. It involves the word "upset". I know what a dictionary says, however I am wanting opinions to the range of emotions that this word actually covers. Do you mind supplying a good sentence as an example and then naming the emotion it is representing.

Thank you all so very much.
  

Top answer

Instead, let me offer a couple of examples to illustrate the emotional level of the word. eg Mary was upset when her husband forgot her birthday. But not eg Mary was upset when her husband was murdered.

— Clive

  • Instead, let me offer a couple of examples to illustrate the emotional level of the word.
  • eg Mary was upset when her husband forgot her birthday.
  • But not eg Mary was upset when her husband was murdered.
  • Clive
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11 Answers
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Instead, let me offer a couple of examples to illustrate the emotional level of the word.

eg Mary was upset when her husband forgot her birthday.

But not
eg Mary was upset when her husband was murdered.

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Hi, Clive. Thanks so much. Am I correct in assuming that the emotional range would cover anger? Which would be your best guess at the problem below?

Seven year old Jim came home from the park without his new bicycle. "An old man and a little boy had borrowed it" he explained. "They are going to bring it at 4 o clock". His parents were upset that he had given away his new expensive b
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Neither 1 or 2 works.

They were unhappy temporarily.

Upset is not the same as angry.

Clive
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Clive, I know the dictionary meaning for the word, but I do think that in everyday language that we often use the word to express that we are angry.
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Yes. But we also often use it to express that we are emotionally distressed in other ways, eg sad, unhappy.

The context often indicates the kind of emotion involved.

Clive
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I may have it all wrong, but this is how I see it. “angry” expresses an emotion that we cannot control, that takes over us for some time and may cause us to act irrationally. When I say that I am upset, I mean that I am displeased with something (or someone); it may also mean that I am mildly irritated. For example, yesterday I invited Felipe and Sarah over for dinner. I was upset because they we
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What do you think? I've already explained that upset and angry are not exactly the same.

Clive
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Just for FYI... I put this on my Facebook and just asked them to select the correct answer. Of the 10 that made comments all but one picked angry and they are fairly educated.. engineers, etc.
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I hope it's not too late to reply. I've always been under the impression that people use "upset" either as a milder form of angry or because they don't want to admit that they are actually angry. The word "angry" can be too harsh to describe their actual emotional state, so they want to be polite and say "upset" instead. While angry also implies a certain degree of aggressiveness, upset is more co
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Cynthia3754Just for FYI... I put this on my Facebook and just asked them to select the correct answer. Of the 10 that made comments all but one picked angry and they are fairly educated.. engineers, etc.
Your test was this:

Seven year old Jim came home from the park without his new bicycle. "An old man and a little boy had borrowed it" he explained
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