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SF21
Joined: 05 Jun 2007
Posts: 72
Location: California
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 Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:42 pm Post subject: captivated with vs. captivated by |
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The original piece of authentic text in question reads: "People around the globe have become captivated with the US Presidential election." I had a private student come back to me and ask if either preposition ending - with or by - can used and if there's a rule.
Captivated by mountains.
thoughts? thanks. |
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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| Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:27 pm Post subject: |
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Most past participle adjectives use the preposition "by" since the past participle usually indicates a passive.
The stative passive usually uses "by": e.g. I'm fascinated by grammar.
But some past participle adjectives can also have other prepositions after them: e.g. I'm interested in hearing about that.
There's no rule that I'm aware of, but then, when you're dealing with prepositions, that's usually the case. |
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arioch36
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 3589
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:52 am Post subject: |
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i guess a fundamental rule for english, is that if bad english is spoken often enough it becomes correct???
Logically, I first thought it must be captivated by, with implying that the two were captivated together. But we also say with when a certain tool is used to accomplish something; I bought the tv with my credit card. So both seem fine, at least based on current usage. 100 years ago, maybe one or the other was wrong. |
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desultude
Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 614
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:31 am Post subject: |
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| arioch36 wrote: |
i guess a fundamental rule for english, is that if bad english is spoken often enough it becomes correct???
Logically, I first thought it must be captivated by, with implying that the two were captivated together. But we also say with when a certain tool is used to accomplish something; I bought the tv with my credit card. So both seem fine, at least based on current usage. 100 years ago, maybe one or the other was wrong. |
Thanks! That is what I thought, but couldn't articulate it so well.
"With", in the credit card example, seems different though, than capitivated with each other In the credit card example you are using "with" to indicate what you used, not who you did it with. |
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Justin Trullinger
Joined: 28 Jan 2005
Posts: 3110
Location: Seoul, South Korea and Myanmar for a bit
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| Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:54 pm Post subject: |
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I'm bored with this thread.
 Thoughts?
Best,
Justin |
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