[Grammar] Who heads you?

[AlJapone]

Dear Teachers.

When you are headed for some disaster, who heads you?
If the verb head were to be used as intransitive, how does the phrase sounds, the phrase "Al, you are headed for a fiasco!"
Sounds like German?
Or ungrammatical?
Or neutral?

Please let me share in your first hand experience, which I will never be able to have due to being a non-native.

Best wishes,


AlJapone

 

[BobK]

Dear Teachers.

When you are headed for some disaster, who heads you?
If the varb head were to be used as intransitive, how does the phrase sounds, the phrase "Al, you are headed for a fiasco!"
Sounds like German?
Or ungrammatical?
Or neutral?

Please let me share in your first hand experience, which I will never be able to understand due to being a non-native.

Best wishes,


AlJapone

Nobody 'heads' you; you have a 'heading' (or direction). Al could be either heading for a fiasco or headed for a fiasco - neither sounds German, though I think some British people might feel that 'headed for' sounds American. I don't, although I wouldn't use that expression myself.

b

 

[AlJapone]

Nobody 'heads' you; you have a 'heading' (or direction). Al could be either heading for a fiasco or headed for a fiasco - neither sounds German, though I think some British people might feel that 'headed for' sounds American. I don't, although I wouldn't use that expression myself.

b

Oh my god! It's an American invention, you say, don't you, BobK?

Thank you for your opinion.


AlJapone

 

[BobK]

I wouldn't know; I doubt it. But I've had many teachers who wanted me to believe it was ;-)

b

 

[AlJapone]

I wouldn't know; I doubt it. But I've had many teachers who wanted me to believe it was ;-)

b

You are now one of them. ;]

Best wishes,


AlJapone

 

[magimagicE]

Is there a typo, heeds (as in take notice of) instead of "heads"?

In any case my built-in common sense correction filter interprets the segments as follows:

When you are heading for disaster, who heeds you?

Al, you are heading towards a fiasco!

 

[Barb_D]

Is it only in American English that we say "You are headed for..."?

That is my heading. I'm headed for it.
Head for the hills!

If I say "I'm dedicated to my studies right now" no one dedicated me; I dedicated myself. It's the same. No one "headed" me there, I headed there myself when I put myself on that heading.

 

[AlJapone]

Is there a typo, heeds (as in take notice of) instead of "heads"?

In any case my built-in common sense correction filter interprets the segments as follows:

When you are heading for disaster, who heeds you?

Al, you are heading towards a fiasco!

hello, magimagicE.
I think you might get some interesting search results if you googled with "am|are|is|was|were headed for".

My first thought was like this:
There is something wrong with this phrase; who is the actor of 'head'? Don't tell me it's some kind of divine intervention going on here.
Then I remembered English and German were siblings, so to speak, and guessed that this might be the perfect with be instead of have. But I could be never sure what kind of register it belonged to in terms of tone. So, I "asked a teacher."

Best wishes,


AlJapone

 

[5jj]

Is it only in American English that we say "You are headed for..."?

Nope. I guess I do.

 

[AlJapone]

If I say "I'm dedicated to my studies right now" no one dedicated me; I dedicated myself. It's the same. No one "headed" me there, I headed there myself when I put myself on that heading.

Hello, Barb_D.
Are 'dedicate oneself' and 'head oneself' grammatically parallel? I think you just head whereas you dedicate yourself.

Best wishes,


AlJapone

 

[AlJapone]

The Spring is come, the violet's gone,
The first born child of the early sun.

 

[Barb_D]

Hello, Barb_D.
Are 'dedicate oneself' and 'head oneself' grammatically parallel? I think you just head whereas you dedicate yourself.

Best wishes,


AlJapone

I think they largely are.

I head toward the nearest exit when the fire alarm sounds. As soon as it's quitting time, they head for their cars.
I will head that way. They will head for the exit at breakneck speed.
I am headed that way. They are headed for the nearest bar.

I dedicate myself fully to whatever I'm engaged in at the moment.
I will dedicate myself to my studies.
I am dedicated to my studies.

 

[AlJapone]

I head toward the nearest exit when the fire alarm sounds. As soon as it's quitting time, they head for their cars.
I will head that way. They will head for the exit at breakneck speed.
I am headed that way. They are headed for the nearest bar.

I dedicate myself fully to whatever I'm engaged in at the moment.
I will dedicate myself to my studies.
I am dedicated to my studies.

All these examples really help me understand, I don't know how to put it, the commonplaceness of be headed.

I feel satisfied now since what I wanted to know most was whether the phrase sounds plain or not; in fact, I had imagined it might sound classic or maybe rural.

Thank you so much, Barb_D.

 

[Raymott]

Dear Teachers.

When you are headed for some disaster, who heads you?

AlJapone

As Bob said, no one heads you. But you could say you are headed by a combination of fate, your personality, your past choices if life, your current position in space time and the implications of that ...

There are other similar phrases:
She is destined for great things. (Who has destined her?)
He is doomed to failure. (Who's dooming him?)
etc.

 

[AlJapone]

Butter cuts easily

As Bob said, no one heads you. But you could say you are headed by a combination of fate, your personality, your past choices if life, your current position in space time and the implications of that ...

There are other similar phrases:
She is destined for great things. (Who has destined her?)
He is doomed to failure. (Who's dooming him?)
etc.

I agree with you. But I also think a fact that head for and be headed for are so close in meaning that sometimes they are interchangeable, this fact, makes things tricky.
Now I think this way:

The bread knife cuts a loaf. --> A loaf is cut by the bread knife.
(The fate) heads you for it --> you are headed (by the fate) for it

Butter cuts easily.
You head for it

Best wishes,


AlJapone