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I recently had a private correspondence with philadelphia about the preposition following be interested. We are both moderately satisfied with my answer to her initial question, but we would like to know what others think. I've cut out a bit, but I fear it's still rather long:
philadelphia: As a foreigner, I'd like to know why you wrote "I'd be interested to see what others think about this" instead of "[...] interested in seeing [...]" in the thread named "Don't even think about". Is it a typo? Could it be correct?
fivejedjon: That got me thinking hard.
Quirk et al claim that when the head of an emotive adjective clause (commonly a participial adjective) and the infinitive clause express causation, the adjective is followed by a to- infinitive clause.
This suggests that: I was interested to learn that you were a foreigner implies: I was interested because I learnt that you were a foreigner.
I'd be interested to see what others think about this.
Perhaps 'd (would) implies politeness as in: I would be grateful if you lent/could lend me £100. So my underlined sentence can be paraphrased as: I'd be interested if I saw/could see what others think/thought about this, implying: I would be interested because I would be able to see what others think.
This makes sense if we consider these alternatives:
a. I was interested to see her. ( I saw her. That interested me.)
b. I was interested in seeing her. (At that point I had NOT seen her. I wanted to see her.)
Here there appears to me to be a clear difference. This may be because the sentences are talking about a past-time situation, so we know whether the seeing took place or not. The same is true of a present situation:
c. I am interested to hear what you say. ( I am hearing [or: I have recently heard] what you say. This interests me.)
d. I am interested in hearing what you say. ( I have NOT yet heard this. I want to hear.)
Now let’s try a future situation:
e. I will be interested to hear..
f. I will be interested in hearing…
I feel that [e] implies that I think I will hear, and that this will interest me. [f] implies that I (will) want to hear, but there is no certainty that I will hear. Because it is a future situation, and there can therefore be no absolute certainty of my hearing, there is less difference in meaning between the two sentences than for past and present situations. Also, I think, because of this, the [e] (to-construction) is more likely.
My original sentence is slightly misleading because I used would rather than will, but perhaps this was only for distancing/politeness/diffidence reasons. I was clearly talking about the future.
philadelphia: Concerning English tests, 'in' would seem to be by far the only correct answer.
fivejedjon: You are probably right, because the implied meaning of want to in interested in is more common than the implied meaning of because in interested to.
I feel that I have not expressed myself very clearly in that, but it makes some sense to me.
I’d /I’ll be interested to hear your views. I (now) am interested in learning more about this. ??
philadelphia: As a foreigner, I'd like to know why you wrote "I'd be interested to see what others think about this" instead of "[...] interested in seeing [...]" in the thread named "Don't even think about". Is it a typo? Could it be correct?
fivejedjon: That got me thinking hard.
Quirk et al claim that when the head of an emotive adjective clause (commonly a participial adjective) and the infinitive clause express causation, the adjective is followed by a to- infinitive clause.
This suggests that: I was interested to learn that you were a foreigner implies: I was interested because I learnt that you were a foreigner.
I'd be interested to see what others think about this.
Perhaps 'd (would) implies politeness as in: I would be grateful if you lent/could lend me £100. So my underlined sentence can be paraphrased as: I'd be interested if I saw/could see what others think/thought about this, implying: I would be interested because I would be able to see what others think.
This makes sense if we consider these alternatives:
a. I was interested to see her. ( I saw her. That interested me.)
b. I was interested in seeing her. (At that point I had NOT seen her. I wanted to see her.)
Here there appears to me to be a clear difference. This may be because the sentences are talking about a past-time situation, so we know whether the seeing took place or not. The same is true of a present situation:
c. I am interested to hear what you say. ( I am hearing [or: I have recently heard] what you say. This interests me.)
d. I am interested in hearing what you say. ( I have NOT yet heard this. I want to hear.)
Now let’s try a future situation:
e. I will be interested to hear..
f. I will be interested in hearing…
I feel that [e] implies that I think I will hear, and that this will interest me. [f] implies that I (will) want to hear, but there is no certainty that I will hear. Because it is a future situation, and there can therefore be no absolute certainty of my hearing, there is less difference in meaning between the two sentences than for past and present situations. Also, I think, because of this, the [e] (to-construction) is more likely.
My original sentence is slightly misleading because I used would rather than will, but perhaps this was only for distancing/politeness/diffidence reasons. I was clearly talking about the future.
philadelphia: Concerning English tests, 'in' would seem to be by far the only correct answer.
fivejedjon: You are probably right, because the implied meaning of want to in interested in is more common than the implied meaning of because in interested to.
I feel that I have not expressed myself very clearly in that, but it makes some sense to me.
I’d /I’ll be interested to hear your views. I (now) am interested in learning more about this. ??