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Anonymous Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

on upset/upset

He was really upset Mike.

He was really upset on Mike.

Which is correct, why?

Thank you
  

Top answer

I think the first one is correct only with a comma ; the 2nd needs an at . They differ in their meaning: He was really upset , Mike. (this means Mike is upset; repetition for emphasis or clarification of the person involved; still, not very common) He was really upset at Mike.

— Marius Hancu

  • I think the first one is correct only with a comma ; the 2nd needs an at .
  • They differ in their meaning: He was really upset , Mike.
  • (this means Mike is upset; repetition for emphasis or clarification of the person involved; still, not very common) He was really upset at Mike.
  • (this means someone else is upset at what Mike did, etc) I don't think on is idiomatic in the 2nd.
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4 Answers
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I think the first one is correct only with a comma; the 2nd needs an at.

They differ in their meaning:

He was really upset, Mike. (this means Mike is upset; repetition for emphasis or clarification of the person involved; still, not very common)
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I believe that typically you get upset with people and upset at something.

He was upset with Mike.

He was upset at losing the game.

Siggy
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SiggyI believe that typically you get upset with people
As a matter of fact, Yahoo confirms what you're saying:

"upset with me"
is 5 times more frequent than
"upset at me"
but both are heavily represented.
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Hi,

There are a number of prepositions you can use here.

Upset with and upset at both suggest that the object of the phrase is the active 'cause of the trouble'. However, if something bad happens to Mike, I can be upset about him, ie upset about the news. Or, I can be upset
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