Hurt feelings

[Rachel Adams]

Hello.
Can I say "hurting feelings" instrad of "hurt feelings"?
"He decided not to tell his wife the truth. He didn't want to hurt her. He hid it to avoid hurt feelings."

 

[GoesStation]

You could say hurting her feelings.​ It's grammatical without the pronoun, but not very likely.

 

[Rachel Adams]

You could say hurting her feelings.​ It's grammatical without the pronoun, but not very likely.

But my original sentence was wrong, wasn't it?

 

[probus]

In my opinion the natural expression is "avoid hurt feelings", but I wouldn't go so far as to say "avoid hurting feelings" is wrong. It's just less likely to be used.

 

[Yankee]

But my original sentence was wrong, wasn't it?

No. not in the context you presented.

 

[tedmc]

I think the gerund (hurting) sounds better than the past participle (hurt).

 

[Rachel Adams]

No.

In my sentence ''He hid it to avoid hurt feelings." Is ''hurt'' used as an adjective in my sentence? I was going to write ''He left his wife with hurt feelings'' but I was not sure it would be OK.

 

[GoesStation]

I think the gerund (hurting) sounds better than the past participle (hurt).

It really isn't.

 

[Skrej]

I think the gerund (hurting) sounds better than the past participle (hurt).

It's actually on the fringe of acceptability to me.

 

[tedmc]

Which of the two is? And could you please explain why?

 

[GoesStation]

It's actually on the fringe of acceptability to me.

Which of the two is? And could you please explain why?

He hid it to avoid hurting feelings. It's not at all natural.

 

[tedmc]

He hid it to avoid hurting feelings. It's not at all natural.

You have not answered why it is not natural.
Would adding the pronoun"her" before "feelings" be better?
How would you reword it to make it natural?

 

[GoesStation]

You have not answered why it is not natural.
Would adding the pronoun"her" before "feelings" be better?
How would you reword it to make it natural?

See post #2.

 

[Rachel Adams]

Could someone answer my question in the ninth post, please? Can I use hurt as an adjective with ''feelings''? ''He left his wife with hurt feelings''

 

[tedmc]

See post #2.

My three questions in Post #15 have not been answered in Post #2. My earlier post stated using hurting as a gerund (without or without the pronoun that follows) and hurt as a past participle.

My three questions were:
1. You have not answered why it is not natural.
2. Would adding the pronoun"her" before "feelings" be better?
3. How would you reword it to make it natural?

 

[GoesStation]

In my sentence ''He hid it to avoid hurt feelings." Is ''hurt'' used as an adjective in my sentence? I was going to write ''He left his wife with hurt feelings'' but I was not sure it would be OK.

Could someone answer my question in the ninth post, please? Can I use hurt as an adjective with ''feelings''? ''He left his wife with hurt feelings''

The sentence is natural. "Hurt" has to be an adjective, modifying "feelings".

 

[jutfrank]

My three questions were:
1. You have not answered why it is not natural.
2. Would adding the pronoun"her" before "feelings" be better?
3. How would you reword it to make it natural?

2. Absolutely, yes. GoesStation did say that in post #2.
3. Add her.

 

[GoesStation]

He hid it to avoid hurt feelings [is] not at all natural.

You have not answered why it is not natural.

There usually isn't a good way to say why a particular usage doesn't sound natural if it's otherwise grammatical. I'm sure you can think of sentences in your native language that are grammatically fine but wouldn't be uttered by a native speaker.

 

[Rover_KE]

By 'not natural' we mean 'not colloquial', meaning native speakers simply don't say it that way, and you just have to take our word for it.

You can start a discussion on why this is so in General Language Discussions if you wish.

 

[jutfrank]

By 'not natural' we mean 'not colloquial', meaning native speakers simply don't say it that way, and you just have to take our word for it.

You can start a discussion on why this is so in General Language Discussions if you wish.

Hmm. I really think that might be a fine idea. The members of this forum do seem to me to have very different ideas about what counts as natural use of English and what doesn't, which very often leads to confusion and unnecessary disagreement, in my opinion.

For example, I wouldn't count He hid it to avoid hurt feelings as unnatural, even though it might not be the most likely thing, or the most natural thing, or the best thing in any other sense, for a native speaker to say.

I think that a discussion where we share ideas on this point will be of great benefit to us all.