usage of Jealous

[Vkumar_25]

Hi,
a friend and me had an arguement on this sentence: "the world jealous is on America". I thought it shoud read as "The world's jealousy is on America" or The world is jealous of Amercia"
Any comments?

[Philly]

Hi Vkumar_25
.
In my humble opinion, the only sentence out of the three that is grammatically correct is "The world is jealous of America."
.
Philly

[Tdol]

I agree with Philly.

[Vkumar_25]

thanks guys, i will wait for a few more responses and set the record straight. Incidentally after a few more such arguements we are not on talking terms.

[MrPedantic]

Yes, I would agree with Philly too; though I would take the sentence "the world's jealousy is on America" as "without obvious meaning", rather than "ungrammatical".

Cheery Thursdays to all,

MrP

[Coffa]

Originally Posted by MrPedantic

Yes, I would agree with Philly too; though I would take the sentence "the world's jealousy is on America" as "without obvious meaning", rather than "ungrammatical".
Cheery Thursdays to all,
MrP

I'd say it was ungrammatical. I know of no circumstances where 'a jealousy' could be 'on' something - perhaps 'of' something, but not 'on' it.

Philly is correct.

[MrPedantic]

I'm sorry, Coffa, I should have explained the sense in which I use "ungrammatical".

If a sentence conforms to the rules that govern a language, it is "grammatical". Thus this sentence:

1. I eat an egg.

is grammatical; whereas this sentence isn't:

2. I eat an eggs.

This example is therefore grammatical, because no part of it infringes any rule of grammar:

3. The world's jealousy is on America.

However, if it is intended literally, it is unidiomatic and meaningless (there are no circumstances in which jealousy can be "on" something, as you say); while if it is intended metaphorically, it is far-fetched.

MrP