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Nugso Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

I'm bored

Hello. When I say I am bored, is the sentence in passive form or is it an adjective? Can I understand it without further context? Could you please clarify it?

Thanks in advance.
  

Top answer

Nugso When I say I am bored, is the sentence in passive form or is it an adjective? Grammatically, it could be either one. ) But with no context, we'd probably understand it to be an adjective complement.

— Avangi

  • Nugso When I say I am bored, is the sentence in passive form or is it an adjective?
  • Grammatically, it could be either one.
  • ) But with no context, we'd probably understand it to be an adjective complement.
  • If we bring an actor into the picture, we'd clearly take it as passive voice: I'm bored by your constantly telling me about your old girlfriends.
  • For passive voice, it has to be a transitive verb.
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11 Answers
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Nugso When I say I am bored, is the sentence in passive form or is it an adjective?
Grammatically, it could be either one. (Somebody bored me.)

But with no context, we'd probably understand it to be an adjective complement.

If we bring an actor into the picture, we'd clearly take it as passive voice:
I'm bored by your constantly telli
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There are many verbs that fall into this category. They are passive in nature but considered "ed" participle adjectives.
I am bored / exhausted / tired / embarrassed / excited.
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Thank you Avangi. So without context, it would be ambigious but people would most likely to understand it to be an adjective. Does the same apply to "interested" and such words as well?
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Thank you too, dimsumexpress. I did not see your post until I posted mine. So I can put interested in the same category!
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NugsoDoes the same apply to "interested" and such words as well?
Yes. I'm having a hard time thinking of an "I'm x-ed." sentence which would be unambiguously passive voice. I'm sure they exist.

Perhaps, "I'm undone." (Somebody undid me.) (Not all past participles end in "-ed,")
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Avangi I'm having a hard time thinking of an "I'm x-ed." sentence which would be unambiguously passive voice. I'm sure they exist.
Any that I have been able to come up with have sounded more natural as I'm being x-ed or I've been x-ed.
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Same here, fivejedjon! Emotion: thinking
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Perhaps the film criminal/policeman/cowboy cry of "I'm hit" fits the bill. Even with this, I think "I've been hit" is probably more natural.
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NugsoHello. When I say I am bored, is the sentence in passive form or is it an adjective? Can I understand it without further context? Could you please clarify it?
If you can add the intensifier "very", then it is an adjective.
I'm very bored / interested / amazed / enlightened, etc.

Note that sometimes you cannot tell without more context
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That's a neat test, A/S! I'd forgotten about it.

Thanks for bringing it up! - A.
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