open or opened? welcome or welcomed?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Blue Frog

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2005
Hi! I have a problem with those...

we're open
or
we're opened?

you're welcome?

I felt welcome
or
I feld welcomed?

Thanks!
 

Blue Frog

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2005
Thanks a lot.

So are "open" and "welcome" actually the correct past participle of the corresponding verbs? Do you actually say:

"This bottle is open"
"This door has been open"

Is there any online resource to check further past participle of english verbs? Thanks again! :-D
 

Casiopea

VIP Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2003
Member Type
Other
You're welcome. :-D

There are some verbs that have adjectival forms that look exactly like the verb form. "open" and "welcome" are two examples.

Adjective
The door is open.
You are welcome.

Verb
They open up at 6:00.
We welcome you to the family.

If a verb already has an adjectival form, then there's no need to use its past participle as an adjective.

Do you actually say:

"This bottle is open"
"This door has been open"
Yes. "open" functions as an adjective; e.g., the door has been open since this morning. "open" describes the state of the door. If it were, say, "This door has been opened", then "opened" functions as a past participle, as part of the verb, and it tell us that someone has opened the door.

Is there any online resource to check further past participle of english verbs? Thanks again! :-D
Have you tried on-line dictionaries?;-)
 

Blue Frog

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2005
Yes. "open" functions as an adjective; e.g., the door has been open since this morning. "open" describes the state of the door. If it were, say, "This door has been opened", then "opened" functions as a past participle, as part of the verb, and it tell us that someone has opened the door.
Wow, a whole new world of the english language just...hum.... opened before my eyes! I never realized that open and welcome were also adjectives, hence the confusion. Thanks a lot.

I use m-w.com but I'm not sure how to know about past tense and past participle. For example, under "welcome", the only information it has is:

Inflected Form(s): wel·comed

... not sure if that always mean that both past and past participle are "welcomed"?
 

JJM Ballantyne

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2005
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
"Inflected Form(s): wel·comed

... not sure if that always mean that both past and past participle are 'welcomed'?"

That's exactly what it means!

Jim welcomed our guests

Jim has already welcomed our guests.
 

Casiopea

VIP Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2003
Member Type
Other
In addition, Blue Frog, the word "inflect" comes from Latin flex-, meaning bend. An inflected word is bent, reshaped; e.g., open => opened.

Also, try this on-line dictionary: http://www.dictionary.com/
 

Mridula Rao

New member
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Member Type
Student or Learner
Thank you so much for the clarification.
I suddenly had a doubt in the usage of 'open' or 'opened', in a sentence like "at which the bank accounts are yet to be open". I have used 'open'. Hope that is correct.
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
Thank you so much for the clarification.
I suddenly had a doubt in the usage of 'open' or 'opened', in a sentence like "at which the bank accounts are yet to be open". I have used 'open'. Hope that is correct.
"At which the bank accounts are yet to be open" is not a sentence.
However, it requires "opened". "yet to be" requires the past participle.

"The bank accounts are not yet opened/open" can take either depending on the meaning. Since they haven't been opened (verb), they aren't yet open (adj).
 

DallasTeacher

New member
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
With some verbs (not all) the past participles can be used as adjectives to describe the state of something or someone:

I am bored
I am confused
The door is closed

However, there are some exceptions, which are simply exceptions based on what people say. For example, we use the past participle for "closed" but use the base form (of the verb) for "open":

The door is open.

Odd...... but an exception.

If we say:

The door is opened

The psychology raises questions, as it sounds like passive voice... "The door is opened by the concierge" and the message can be confusing to the native speaker who has always heard and said:

The door is open

Sometimes there is no explanation other than these things can be a simple exception as to the way we talk. In these cases, memorization is the only rule.

Good luck!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top