Meaning of “appear” in “She appears to have had two children”
What is the meaning of appear in the following examples:
- She appears to have had two children.
- He appears to have been elected as the first pope outside of Europe.
- Their aircraft appears to have crashed near Kathmandu.
- Their offer appears to be the most attractive.
Or, for example, when you try to open a file in Autodesk Simulation Mechanical, you see an error message like:
Warning: [file] appears to be open already.
meaning ambiguity
edited Sep 25 '15 at 16:12
Dan Bron
26.1k1286122
asked Sep 25 '15 at 15:34
ElianElian
38.8k20104213
|
show 3 more comments
What is the meaning of appear in the following examples:
- She appears to have had two children.
- He appears to have been elected as the first pope outside of Europe.
- Their aircraft appears to have crashed near Kathmandu.
- Their offer appears to be the most attractive.
Or, for example, when you try to open a file in Autodesk Simulation Mechanical, you see an error message like:
Warning: [file] appears to be open already.
meaning ambiguity
edited Sep 25 '15 at 16:12
Dan Bron
26.1k1286122
asked Sep 25 '15 at 15:34
ElianElian
38.8k20104213
"It looks like she had two children" "It looks like their aircraft has crashed..."
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 15:38
@Jim Couldn't it be "She turns out/happens to have had two children?"
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 15:46
I hate those warming messages, especially in the summer.
– deadrat
Sep 25 '15 at 15:48
It is stating a fact and at the same time conveying mild surprise (and distancing the speaker) from the reality of the fact. When a person appears at a party, it is as if they have suddenly, unexpectedly "popped into existence". Similarly for these facts. They're true, but mildly surprising.
– Dan Bron
Sep 25 '15 at 15:57
1
@Elian- No. "turns out" is used when the uncertainty associated with a piece of information is removed. "appears to" is used specifically to introduce uncertainty in the statement.
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 16:00
|
show 3 more comments
What is the meaning of appear in the following examples:
- She appears to have had two children.
- He appears to have been elected as the first pope outside of Europe.
- Their aircraft appears to have crashed near Kathmandu.
- Their offer appears to be the most attractive.
Or, for example, when you try to open a file in Autodesk Simulation Mechanical, you see an error message like:
Warning: [file] appears to be open already.
meaning ambiguity
edited Sep 25 '15 at 16:12
Dan Bron
26.1k1286122
asked Sep 25 '15 at 15:34
ElianElian
38.8k20104213
What is the meaning of appear in the following examples:
- She appears to have had two children.
- He appears to have been elected as the first pope outside of Europe.
- Their aircraft appears to have crashed near Kathmandu.
- Their offer appears to be the most attractive.
Or, for example, when you try to open a file in Autodesk Simulation Mechanical, you see an error message like:
Warning: [file] appears to be open already.
meaning ambiguity
meaning ambiguity
edited Sep 25 '15 at 16:12
Dan Bron
26.1k1286122
asked Sep 25 '15 at 15:34
ElianElian
38.8k20104213
edited Sep 25 '15 at 16:12
Dan Bron
26.1k1286122
asked Sep 25 '15 at 15:34
ElianElian
38.8k20104213
edited Sep 25 '15 at 16:12
Dan Bron
26.1k1286122
edited Sep 25 '15 at 16:12
Dan Bron
26.1k1286122
edited Sep 25 '15 at 16:12
Dan Bron
26.1k1286122
26.1k1286122
asked Sep 25 '15 at 15:34
ElianElian
38.8k20104213
asked Sep 25 '15 at 15:34
ElianElian
38.8k20104213
asked Sep 25 '15 at 15:34
ElianElian
38.8k20104213
38.8k20104213
"It looks like she had two children" "It looks like their aircraft has crashed..."
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 15:38
@Jim Couldn't it be "She turns out/happens to have had two children?"
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 15:46
I hate those warming messages, especially in the summer.
– deadrat
Sep 25 '15 at 15:48
It is stating a fact and at the same time conveying mild surprise (and distancing the speaker) from the reality of the fact. When a person appears at a party, it is as if they have suddenly, unexpectedly "popped into existence". Similarly for these facts. They're true, but mildly surprising.
– Dan Bron
Sep 25 '15 at 15:57
1
@Elian- No. "turns out" is used when the uncertainty associated with a piece of information is removed. "appears to" is used specifically to introduce uncertainty in the statement.
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 16:00
|
show 3 more comments
"It looks like she had two children" "It looks like their aircraft has crashed..."
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 15:38
@Jim Couldn't it be "She turns out/happens to have had two children?"
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 15:46
I hate those warming messages, especially in the summer.
– deadrat
Sep 25 '15 at 15:48
It is stating a fact and at the same time conveying mild surprise (and distancing the speaker) from the reality of the fact. When a person appears at a party, it is as if they have suddenly, unexpectedly "popped into existence". Similarly for these facts. They're true, but mildly surprising.
– Dan Bron
Sep 25 '15 at 15:57
1
@Elian- No. "turns out" is used when the uncertainty associated with a piece of information is removed. "appears to" is used specifically to introduce uncertainty in the statement.
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 16:00
"It looks like she had two children" "It looks like their aircraft has crashed..."
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 15:38
"It looks like she had two children" "It looks like their aircraft has crashed..."
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 15:38
@Jim Couldn't it be "She turns out/happens to have had two children?"
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 15:46
@Jim Couldn't it be "She turns out/happens to have had two children?"
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 15:46
I hate those warming messages, especially in the summer.
– deadrat
Sep 25 '15 at 15:48
I hate those warming messages, especially in the summer.
– deadrat
Sep 25 '15 at 15:48
It is stating a fact and at the same time conveying mild surprise (and distancing the speaker) from the reality of the fact. When a person appears at a party, it is as if they have suddenly, unexpectedly "popped into existence". Similarly for these facts. They're true, but mildly surprising.
– Dan Bron
Sep 25 '15 at 15:57
It is stating a fact and at the same time conveying mild surprise (and distancing the speaker) from the reality of the fact. When a person appears at a party, it is as if they have suddenly, unexpectedly "popped into existence". Similarly for these facts. They're true, but mildly surprising.
– Dan Bron
Sep 25 '15 at 15:57
1
1
@Elian- No. "turns out" is used when the uncertainty associated with a piece of information is removed. "appears to" is used specifically to introduce uncertainty in the statement.
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 16:00
@Elian- No. "turns out" is used when the uncertainty associated with a piece of information is removed. "appears to" is used specifically to introduce uncertainty in the statement.
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 16:00
|
show 3 more comments
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
Here, the sense employed is #2 from the ODO link you provided:
Seem; give the impression of being:
[WITH INFINITIVE]: she appeared not to know what was happening
Note the example given matches your own.
In practice, this rhetoric is typically used when we want to state a fact while simultaneously conveying mild surprise, or distancing ourselves¹, from the reality of that fact.
If you need a mnemonic, consider that when a person appears at a party, it is as if they have suddenly, unexpectedly "popped into existence". Similarly for these facts. They're true, but mildly surprising.
¹ The alleged baby-candy-stealer went on to state...
answered Sep 25 '15 at 16:15
Dan BronDan Bron
26.1k1286122
Or they may not be true, but they are our best guess based on the currently observable information.
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 16:19
@Jim It appears [=is clear after further evidence] I was way off on that one... :-)
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 16:24
@DanBron Couldn't "She appeared not to know what was happening" be alternately rephrased as "She appeared to not know what was happening?"
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 16:34
1
@Dan: All I can say is you appear to know what you're talking about. I'll leave it to you (and any others reading this comment) to decide if that implies I'm "mildly surprised" that you should be so knowledgeable (or perhaps I'm actually sceptical, implying that maybe the semblance of knowledge might not match the reality! :)
– FumbleFingers
Sep 25 '15 at 16:42
1
You can also describe this as a tentative conclusion.
– GalacticCowboy
Sep 25 '15 at 19:20
|
show 5 more comments
Appear is an unusual verb in a number of ways:
it's a sense verb of sight, but isn't restricted to visual appearance;
it's a flip verb, in that the subject isn't the perceiver but rather the source of the percept
(like that scares me rather than I'm scared of that);and it's so close to the meaning of seem that it has virtually the same syntax as seem,
which is quite a lot of syntax indeed.
It's hard to figure out the meaning, because there isn't very much. Seem and appear are one-place (intransitive) verbs that take clauses as their logical subjects, and essentially say nothing about the subject clause, except that it represents a guess.
But English does not like long sentences with the verb last. So there are syntactic rules like Raising
to break these awful sentences into something that sounds like English.
*For their offer to be the most attractive seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
Their offer appears to be the most attractive.*For Harry to have won seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
Harry seems/appears to have won.*For there to be a party tonight seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
There seems/appears to be a party tonight.
answered Sep 25 '15 at 17:24
John LawlerJohn Lawler
84.7k6118332
add a comment |
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2 Answers
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2 Answers
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Here, the sense employed is #2 from the ODO link you provided:
Seem; give the impression of being:
[WITH INFINITIVE]: she appeared not to know what was happening
Note the example given matches your own.
In practice, this rhetoric is typically used when we want to state a fact while simultaneously conveying mild surprise, or distancing ourselves¹, from the reality of that fact.
If you need a mnemonic, consider that when a person appears at a party, it is as if they have suddenly, unexpectedly "popped into existence". Similarly for these facts. They're true, but mildly surprising.
¹ The alleged baby-candy-stealer went on to state...
answered Sep 25 '15 at 16:15
Dan BronDan Bron
26.1k1286122
Or they may not be true, but they are our best guess based on the currently observable information.
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 16:19
@Jim It appears [=is clear after further evidence] I was way off on that one... :-)
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 16:24
@DanBron Couldn't "She appeared not to know what was happening" be alternately rephrased as "She appeared to not know what was happening?"
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 16:34
1
@Dan: All I can say is you appear to know what you're talking about. I'll leave it to you (and any others reading this comment) to decide if that implies I'm "mildly surprised" that you should be so knowledgeable (or perhaps I'm actually sceptical, implying that maybe the semblance of knowledge might not match the reality! :)
– FumbleFingers
Sep 25 '15 at 16:42
1
You can also describe this as a tentative conclusion.
– GalacticCowboy
Sep 25 '15 at 19:20
|
show 5 more comments
Here, the sense employed is #2 from the ODO link you provided:
Seem; give the impression of being:
[WITH INFINITIVE]: she appeared not to know what was happening
Note the example given matches your own.
In practice, this rhetoric is typically used when we want to state a fact while simultaneously conveying mild surprise, or distancing ourselves¹, from the reality of that fact.
If you need a mnemonic, consider that when a person appears at a party, it is as if they have suddenly, unexpectedly "popped into existence". Similarly for these facts. They're true, but mildly surprising.
¹ The alleged baby-candy-stealer went on to state...
answered Sep 25 '15 at 16:15
Dan BronDan Bron
26.1k1286122
Or they may not be true, but they are our best guess based on the currently observable information.
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 16:19
@Jim It appears [=is clear after further evidence] I was way off on that one... :-)
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 16:24
@DanBron Couldn't "She appeared not to know what was happening" be alternately rephrased as "She appeared to not know what was happening?"
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 16:34
1
@Dan: All I can say is you appear to know what you're talking about. I'll leave it to you (and any others reading this comment) to decide if that implies I'm "mildly surprised" that you should be so knowledgeable (or perhaps I'm actually sceptical, implying that maybe the semblance of knowledge might not match the reality! :)
– FumbleFingers
Sep 25 '15 at 16:42
1
You can also describe this as a tentative conclusion.
– GalacticCowboy
Sep 25 '15 at 19:20
|
show 5 more comments
Here, the sense employed is #2 from the ODO link you provided:
Seem; give the impression of being:
[WITH INFINITIVE]: she appeared not to know what was happening
Note the example given matches your own.
In practice, this rhetoric is typically used when we want to state a fact while simultaneously conveying mild surprise, or distancing ourselves¹, from the reality of that fact.
If you need a mnemonic, consider that when a person appears at a party, it is as if they have suddenly, unexpectedly "popped into existence". Similarly for these facts. They're true, but mildly surprising.
¹ The alleged baby-candy-stealer went on to state...
answered Sep 25 '15 at 16:15
Dan BronDan Bron
26.1k1286122
Here, the sense employed is #2 from the ODO link you provided:
Seem; give the impression of being:
[WITH INFINITIVE]: she appeared not to know what was happening
Note the example given matches your own.
In practice, this rhetoric is typically used when we want to state a fact while simultaneously conveying mild surprise, or distancing ourselves¹, from the reality of that fact.
If you need a mnemonic, consider that when a person appears at a party, it is as if they have suddenly, unexpectedly "popped into existence". Similarly for these facts. They're true, but mildly surprising.
¹ The alleged baby-candy-stealer went on to state...
answered Sep 25 '15 at 16:15
Dan BronDan Bron
26.1k1286122
edited Sep 25 '15 at 16:19
answered Sep 25 '15 at 16:15
Dan BronDan Bron
26.1k1286122
answered Sep 25 '15 at 16:15
Dan BronDan Bron
26.1k1286122
answered Sep 25 '15 at 16:15
Dan BronDan Bron
26.1k1286122
26.1k1286122
Or they may not be true, but they are our best guess based on the currently observable information.
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 16:19
@Jim It appears [=is clear after further evidence] I was way off on that one... :-)
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 16:24
@DanBron Couldn't "She appeared not to know what was happening" be alternately rephrased as "She appeared to not know what was happening?"
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 16:34
1
@Dan: All I can say is you appear to know what you're talking about. I'll leave it to you (and any others reading this comment) to decide if that implies I'm "mildly surprised" that you should be so knowledgeable (or perhaps I'm actually sceptical, implying that maybe the semblance of knowledge might not match the reality! :)
– FumbleFingers
Sep 25 '15 at 16:42
1
You can also describe this as a tentative conclusion.
– GalacticCowboy
Sep 25 '15 at 19:20
|
show 5 more comments
Or they may not be true, but they are our best guess based on the currently observable information.
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 16:19
@Jim It appears [=is clear after further evidence] I was way off on that one... :-)
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 16:24
@DanBron Couldn't "She appeared not to know what was happening" be alternately rephrased as "She appeared to not know what was happening?"
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 16:34
1
@Dan: All I can say is you appear to know what you're talking about. I'll leave it to you (and any others reading this comment) to decide if that implies I'm "mildly surprised" that you should be so knowledgeable (or perhaps I'm actually sceptical, implying that maybe the semblance of knowledge might not match the reality! :)
– FumbleFingers
Sep 25 '15 at 16:42
1
You can also describe this as a tentative conclusion.
– GalacticCowboy
Sep 25 '15 at 19:20
Or they may not be true, but they are our best guess based on the currently observable information.
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 16:19
Or they may not be true, but they are our best guess based on the currently observable information.
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 16:19
@Jim It appears [=is clear after further evidence] I was way off on that one... :-)
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 16:24
@Jim It appears [=is clear after further evidence] I was way off on that one... :-)
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 16:24
@DanBron Couldn't "She appeared not to know what was happening" be alternately rephrased as "She appeared to not know what was happening?"
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 16:34
@DanBron Couldn't "She appeared not to know what was happening" be alternately rephrased as "She appeared to not know what was happening?"
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 16:34
1
1
@Dan: All I can say is you appear to know what you're talking about. I'll leave it to you (and any others reading this comment) to decide if that implies I'm "mildly surprised" that you should be so knowledgeable (or perhaps I'm actually sceptical, implying that maybe the semblance of knowledge might not match the reality! :)
– FumbleFingers
Sep 25 '15 at 16:42
@Dan: All I can say is you appear to know what you're talking about. I'll leave it to you (and any others reading this comment) to decide if that implies I'm "mildly surprised" that you should be so knowledgeable (or perhaps I'm actually sceptical, implying that maybe the semblance of knowledge might not match the reality! :)
– FumbleFingers
Sep 25 '15 at 16:42
1
1
You can also describe this as a tentative conclusion.
– GalacticCowboy
Sep 25 '15 at 19:20
You can also describe this as a tentative conclusion.
– GalacticCowboy
Sep 25 '15 at 19:20
|
show 5 more comments
Appear is an unusual verb in a number of ways:
it's a sense verb of sight, but isn't restricted to visual appearance;
it's a flip verb, in that the subject isn't the perceiver but rather the source of the percept
(like that scares me rather than I'm scared of that);and it's so close to the meaning of seem that it has virtually the same syntax as seem,
which is quite a lot of syntax indeed.
It's hard to figure out the meaning, because there isn't very much. Seem and appear are one-place (intransitive) verbs that take clauses as their logical subjects, and essentially say nothing about the subject clause, except that it represents a guess.
But English does not like long sentences with the verb last. So there are syntactic rules like Raising
to break these awful sentences into something that sounds like English.
*For their offer to be the most attractive seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
Their offer appears to be the most attractive.*For Harry to have won seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
Harry seems/appears to have won.*For there to be a party tonight seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
There seems/appears to be a party tonight.
answered Sep 25 '15 at 17:24
John LawlerJohn Lawler
84.7k6118332
add a comment |
Appear is an unusual verb in a number of ways:
it's a sense verb of sight, but isn't restricted to visual appearance;
it's a flip verb, in that the subject isn't the perceiver but rather the source of the percept
(like that scares me rather than I'm scared of that);and it's so close to the meaning of seem that it has virtually the same syntax as seem,
which is quite a lot of syntax indeed.
It's hard to figure out the meaning, because there isn't very much. Seem and appear are one-place (intransitive) verbs that take clauses as their logical subjects, and essentially say nothing about the subject clause, except that it represents a guess.
But English does not like long sentences with the verb last. So there are syntactic rules like Raising
to break these awful sentences into something that sounds like English.
*For their offer to be the most attractive seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
Their offer appears to be the most attractive.*For Harry to have won seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
Harry seems/appears to have won.*For there to be a party tonight seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
There seems/appears to be a party tonight.
answered Sep 25 '15 at 17:24
John LawlerJohn Lawler
84.7k6118332
add a comment |
Appear is an unusual verb in a number of ways:
it's a sense verb of sight, but isn't restricted to visual appearance;
it's a flip verb, in that the subject isn't the perceiver but rather the source of the percept
(like that scares me rather than I'm scared of that);and it's so close to the meaning of seem that it has virtually the same syntax as seem,
which is quite a lot of syntax indeed.
It's hard to figure out the meaning, because there isn't very much. Seem and appear are one-place (intransitive) verbs that take clauses as their logical subjects, and essentially say nothing about the subject clause, except that it represents a guess.
But English does not like long sentences with the verb last. So there are syntactic rules like Raising
to break these awful sentences into something that sounds like English.
*For their offer to be the most attractive seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
Their offer appears to be the most attractive.*For Harry to have won seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
Harry seems/appears to have won.*For there to be a party tonight seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
There seems/appears to be a party tonight.
answered Sep 25 '15 at 17:24
John LawlerJohn Lawler
84.7k6118332
Appear is an unusual verb in a number of ways:
it's a sense verb of sight, but isn't restricted to visual appearance;
it's a flip verb, in that the subject isn't the perceiver but rather the source of the percept
(like that scares me rather than I'm scared of that);and it's so close to the meaning of seem that it has virtually the same syntax as seem,
which is quite a lot of syntax indeed.
It's hard to figure out the meaning, because there isn't very much. Seem and appear are one-place (intransitive) verbs that take clauses as their logical subjects, and essentially say nothing about the subject clause, except that it represents a guess.
But English does not like long sentences with the verb last. So there are syntactic rules like Raising
to break these awful sentences into something that sounds like English.
*For their offer to be the most attractive seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
Their offer appears to be the most attractive.*For Harry to have won seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
Harry seems/appears to have won.*For there to be a party tonight seems/appears.
=== Subject-Raising ==>
There seems/appears to be a party tonight.
answered Sep 25 '15 at 17:24
John LawlerJohn Lawler
84.7k6118332
edited 7 hours ago
answered Sep 25 '15 at 17:24
John LawlerJohn Lawler
84.7k6118332
answered Sep 25 '15 at 17:24
John LawlerJohn Lawler
84.7k6118332
answered Sep 25 '15 at 17:24
John LawlerJohn Lawler
84.7k6118332
84.7k6118332
add a comment |
add a comment |
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"It looks like she had two children" "It looks like their aircraft has crashed..."
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 15:38
@Jim Couldn't it be "She turns out/happens to have had two children?"
– Elian
Sep 25 '15 at 15:46
I hate those warming messages, especially in the summer.
– deadrat
Sep 25 '15 at 15:48
It is stating a fact and at the same time conveying mild surprise (and distancing the speaker) from the reality of the fact. When a person appears at a party, it is as if they have suddenly, unexpectedly "popped into existence". Similarly for these facts. They're true, but mildly surprising.
– Dan Bron
Sep 25 '15 at 15:57
1
@Elian- No. "turns out" is used when the uncertainty associated with a piece of information is removed. "appears to" is used specifically to introduce uncertainty in the statement.
– Jim
Sep 25 '15 at 16:00