Representing thinking, perceiving, liking and desiring
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Using verb patterns to represent likes and dislikes | page 12 of 12 |
A note on the order of participants
With verbs related to attitudes, the most common order of participants
is illustrated in the following example:
You know, I like argumentative people. (Bank of English)
feeler stimulus
With some attitude verbs, it is possible to represent the same idea using a related verb, but with the order of participants reversed:
Argumentative people please me.
stimulus feeler
Because there are many such pairs of verbs associated with likes and dislikes, eg I like it = it pleases me, a useful term for this phenomenon is the "please pattern".
With verbs related to likes and dislikes, many take the "please pattern". Here are some pairs, with examples:
I like it = it pleases me (appeal to, attract, amaze, delight, impress, interest)
I did not like the way in which we lost the battle in midfield.
Against Brazil the teamwork was not quite right. We were not tight enough, and the way in which we lost the battle in midfield did not please me. (Microconcord Corpus A)
I dislike it = it annoys me (anger, bug, frighten, irritate, infuriate, scare, worry)
I must say I dislike not so much cigarette smokers, but pipe smokers.
I must say it is not so much cigarette smokers but pipe smokers that annoy me. (Bank of English)
Note that both the like type and the please type can be used with passive voice:
She was disliked by some of those who had developed a more leisurely attitude towards their work. (Bank of English)
Craig-Martin has always been fascinated by the nuts and bolts of art. (Microconcord Corpus A)
For further information, plus some useful lists, see 
Using passive voice: Passive voice with attitude verbs (p 2).
For information about one of the problems that students have with the use of passive
voice with attitude verbs, see 
Using passive voice: Students'
problems (p 5).
A note on the order of participants
