Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Discerning "concerning"

I'm trying to discern whether I ought to be concerned about "concerning," which keeps cropping up in the form of an adjective. Note the following pairs of sentences:

A. I am very concerned about Jim's health.
B. Jim's health is very concerning.

A. I am very concerned about the state of the environment.
B. The state of the environment is very concerning.

A. I am very concerned about my student's performance.
B. My student's performance is very concerning.

I don't recall hearing the B form before a few years ago, but now I hear it all the time. Is there any real difference in meaning between A and B? I see a shift in emphasis: the A sentences express statements about my feelings, while the B sentences express a statement about Jim's health or the environment or my student's performance. In the A sentences, the concern lives within me, while in the B sentences, the adjective "concerning" applies not to me but to Jim or the environment or my student.

Taking "I" out of the picture places the emphasis firmly on the problem causing the concern, but does it also shift responsibility for the problem? Let's see what happens if we create a C pattern by adding the word "to me" at the end of each of B sentences:

A. I am very concerned about Jim's health.
B. Jim's health is very concerning.
C. Jim's health is very concerning to me.

C seems closer in meaning to A than to B, but it still places the emphasis on Jim's health rather than on my state of mind. Does this distinction matter?

This adjectival use of "concerning" grates on my ears every time I hear it, but is it more accurate to say that I am concerned about "concerning" or that I find "concerning" concerning? "To me" or not "to me"? That is the question.

2 comments:

Jessica said...

Hmm ... I don't like your B options, and I'm not overly fond of C either. When I look up "concerning" in the OED, it does seem as though it can be used in the manner you're hearing it. I tend to connect the word concerning, however, to the meaning "as it pertains to." How about an option D?

D. Concerning Jim's health, I am very concerned.

Bev said...

I agree: I never use the B or C options myself, but I hear people use them all the time.