I was worred

Question

I was worried.

I was worried [by this question]. (I think - simple present in passive voice where worried is main verb)

Am I right?

If right, could you tell me how to identify the sentence structure on similar sentences?

Whl626 · Accepted Answer

Verb in passive form acts as an adjective

Your example : I was worried by this question. Yes, ' worried ' is a verb in passive. It is also an adjective denoting your condition.

Yankee · Answer

"I was worried by this question. (I think - simple ~~present~~ past in passive voice where worried is main verb)"

Look at these sentences:

(1a) He was pleased. (1b) He was pleased by the good news. (1c) The good news pleased him.

(2a) I was annoyed. (2b) I was annoyed by his lack of sensitivity. (2c) His lack of sensitivity annoyed me.

(3a) The baby was frightened. (3b) The baby was frightened by the thunder. (3c) The thunder frightened the baby.

In the (a) sentences, only a condition is described. There is no mention of the direct cause of the condition.

In the (b) sentences, the verb is passive and the agent or cause of the condition is stated (after the word 'by').

In the (c) sentences, you see the equivalent of the (b) sentences in the active voice.
(i.e. X caused Y)

(4) We were lost and had no idea how to get out of the forest.
Here, 'lost' is an adjective and the sentence describes a past condition. The condition is that we didn't know exactly where we were (i.e. we had lost our way).
The first half of sentence (4) is basically impossible to turn into a passive form of the verb 'lose'.

I was worred

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions