Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Username

hooliedoolie

Member Since

January 10, 2003

Total number of comments

1

Total number of votes received

8

Bio

Latest Comments

Perturb vs. Disturb

  • January 10, 2003, 11:55am

There is no such thing as a transitive or intransitive adverb. Both "perturbed" and "disturbed" are participle adjectives when they follow the verb "to be" or other stative verbs i.e. seem, feel, sound, etc. Both perturbed and disturbed are passive verbs using past participle forms when the "by" agent is used. For example, "She was disturbed by the story". In an active sentence, the verb immediately converts to the present participle adjective form, as in "The story was disturbing to her". I hope this helps!