Grammar help please?

Question

Hi,Could you please check for me If I have made any mistakes in these grammar?They confused me, thereforeI am confused /  confusing ] about them. (Passive and active, both are correct?)This is a confused / confusing situation. (Adjective)You [ confused / mistook ] my meaning.They are confusing / confusable ]. (Both words are correct?)His unexpected visit made me [ chaos / confusion ]. (Both words are pretty much same meaning)This country is in the state of the [ chaos / confusion ]. (Both words are pretty much same meaning)I looked him in confusion as I couldn't understand him. (He spoke a foreign language)A strict regulation [ governs /  is governing ] us.Cheers

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

John AkiThey confused me; therefore, I am confused ~~/ confusing~~ ] about them. (Passive and active, both are correct? No.)

Note the parts of the verb "confuse".

Infinitive: (to) confuse
Past: confused
Past Participle: confused
Present Participle: confusing

Adjective forms: confusing; confused; confusable
Noun form: confusion

Present:

I am talking nonsense to you; therefore, I am confusing you.
I am making you confused_adj. You are confused_adj now because of what I said.

She says "yes"; then she says "no". She is confusing me.
She is making me confused_adj. I am confused_adj now because of what she said.

Past:

I was talking nonsense to you; therefore, I confused_past you.
I made you confused_adj. You were confused_adj because of what I said.

She said "yes"; then she said "no". She confused_past me.
She made me confused_adj. I was confused_adj because of what she said.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

John AkiThis is a confused / confusing situation. (Adjective)

Both are possible. 'confusing' is used a little more often.

A confused situation is a situation which has already been made confusing. This is like saying that the situation is messed up. Somebody has caused confusion.
A confusing situation is a situation which has the power to confuse people. It's like saying that it's hard to understand what is happening.

John AkiYou [ confused / mistook ] my meaning.

OK. 'mistook' is a little better.

John AkiThey are confusing / confusable ]. (Both words are correct?)

Yes. Also 'confused'.

When the sentence is so simple (They are ____), you can put just about any word in the blank, so it doesn't really show whether you know the meaning of the word or not.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

John AkiHis unexpected visit made me [ ~~chaos / confusion~~ ] confused.
Or: His unexpected visit caused [chaos / confusion]. (Both words are pretty much same meaning. No. "chaos" is really EXTREME confusion.)

'chaos' and 'confusion' are abstract nouns. You can't have "made me" with an abstract noun. Some examples will show you what I mean.

With a (concrete) noun:

Laura made me a cake. / The chef made me a tasty meal. / The kids made their mom a birthday card. / The seamstress made my daughter a dress.

Can you see why you can't have these?

Laura made me resentment. / The kids made their mom cleanliness.

With an adjective:

The heavy wool blankets made us warm. / Those sentences made me confused. / His criticism made me angry.

John AkiThis country is in ~~the~~ a state of ~~the~~ [ chaos / confusion ]. (Both words are pretty much same meaning) "chaos" is much more extreme.

'in a state of ____' It's one of many possible states. There is no single state that is the (one) state of chaos (or confusion).

'chaos' and 'confusion' are abstract nouns, so they don't take 'a' or 'the'.

John AkiI looked at him in confusion as I couldn't understand him. (He spoke a foreign language.)

Correct as shown.

John AkiA strict regulation [ governs / (is governing?) ] us.

It's not likely to be 'is governing'. Regulations are normally fairly permanent, so this wouldn't be something that is just happening for the moment.

CJ

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