# Usage question (grammar).
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-question-grammar/391759
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 11, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-question-grammar/391759 "2007-02-11T20:48:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-question-grammar/391759/1 "2007-02-11T20:48:01Z")
“He looks suspicious.”
Does that mean he’s likely up to no good, or does it mean he thinks I’m up to no good?
How can one tell without context?
Peace,
mangeorge
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### Author:  [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-question-grammar/391759/2 "2007-02-11T21:07:44Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge]
“He looks suspicious.”
Does that mean he’s likely up to no good, or does it mean he thinks I’m up to no good?
[/QUOTE]
The former. The latter should be “he looks suspiciously.”
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### Author:  [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-question-grammar/391759/3 "2007-02-11T21:18:55Z")
The former, but only because that’s the common usage, in my experience. Both make sense, and it’s just an ambiguity of the language. Only context would make it clear.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-question-grammar/391759/4 "2007-02-11T21:20:06Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge]
“He looks suspicious.”
Does that mean he’s likely up to no good, or does it mean he thinks I’m up to no good?
How can one tell without context?
Peace,
mangeorge
[/QUOTE]
In that particular form, I’m going to vote that it’s ambiguous. I think **Rysto** has a point, but I propose that the sentence might be an abridged (but not incorrect) paraphrase of
he looks _as if he were_ suspicious _of something or someone_
With more context perhaps the ambiguity could be resolved, but I wouldn’t consider the “he looks suspicious” as being clear in and of itself.
The first impression is that his appearance and/or demeanor suggests he’s up to no good. But that’s not 100% the only impression of the sentence’s intent.
Does it matter? Is there something riding on the answer to your query?
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### Author:  [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-question-grammar/391759/5 "2007-02-11T21:23:29Z")
[QUOTE=Speaker for the Dead]
The former, but only because that’s the common usage, in my experience. Both make sense, and it’s just an ambiguity of the language. Only context would make it clear.
[/QUOTE]
Context is king here. It could mean either, “He looks like a suspicious character”, or, “He looks as if he suspects something”. Both senses fit the construction.
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### Author:  [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-question-grammar/391759/6 "2007-02-11T21:26:19Z")
I’m glad we agree. I, like **Zeldar** , was hoping to point out that the first impression is “he looked to be of suspicious character,” not “he looked to be suspicious of something.” I realise that the actual construction lends itself equally to both.
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-question-grammar/391759/7 "2007-02-11T21:30:01Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar]
In that particular form, I’m going to vote that it’s ambiguous. I think **Rysto** has a point, but I propose that the sentence might be an abridged (but not incorrect) paraphrase of
he looks _as if he were_ suspicious _of something or someone_
With more context perhaps the ambiguity could be resolved, but I wouldn’t consider the “he looks suspicious” as being clear in and of itself.
The first impression is that his appearance and/or demeanor suggests he’s up to no good. But that’s not 100% the only impression of the sentence’s intent.
Does it matter? Is there something riding on the answer to your query?
[/QUOTE]
No, it’s not really important.
I occasionally come across similar sentences that require me to temporarily assume, is all.
“Last night I saw this suspicious man standing in the shadows, watching the bank entrance.”
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-question-grammar/391759/8 "2007-02-11T21:39:48Z")
I just recalled an actual sentence, although I’m likely paraphrasing;
“Big Jim whispered ‘there they are, don’t act suspicious’”
Are Jim and I the cops or are we the crooks?
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-question-grammar/391759/9 "2007-02-11T21:39:58Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge]
No, it’s not really important.
I occasionally come across similar sentences that require me to temporarily assume, is all.
“Last night I saw this suspicious man standing in the shadows, watching the bank entrance.”
[/QUOTE]
Good to hear. But your observation/quandary suggests something that a skilled writer might undertake sometime: write a story using nothing but ambiguous sentences so that the entire story’s point can be taken two (or more) ways.
I seem to recall a movie whose theme was like this and I don’t mean _Rashomon_ or its ripoff _The Outrage_.
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### Author:  [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-question-grammar/391759/10 "2007-02-12T00:24:49Z")
While we’re on the same subject,
Is “I am nauseous” ambiguous, as well, in the written word? Orally this depends on who says it and the context, and to me depending on the speaker means he or she is either nauseated or nauseating.
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### Author:  [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2007, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-question-grammar/391759/11 "2007-02-12T05:24:10Z")
> [@Rysto](#):
>
> The latter should be “he looks suspiciously.”
Not to be rude, but that’s a pretty bad sentence, not only because it’s awkward to most speakers but also because it’s ambiguous whether or not you or he is doing the looking.