Today's American English question An easy one, this time, I hope. What is your assumption when someone says 'I feel sick'? Do you assume that they're nauseous and about to throw up? Or might they ha

La Liseuse

Today's American English question An easy one, this time, I hope. What is your assumption when someone says 'I feel sick'? Do you assume that they're nauseous and about to throw up? Or might they have a headache, flu, a fever, or any other ailment? Or put it another way.... if you had to draw a cartoon to illustrate the sentence 'I feel sick', what would you draw? Many thanks :) NB As you might have guessed, I'm trying to get my head around the extent of the difference between B.E. and A.E. with regard to this statement.

Oct 15, 2017 2:24 PM

Answers · 15

Hi Su.ki, It really depends on the context. For me, "I feel sick" can range from I-have-a-fever, to I-am-going-to-throw-up-in-a-moment, to something more figurative i.e., Established context + I am sick/I feel sick. In other words, if somebody told me that they felt sick, I would ask them why if I didn't already understand the situation.

October 15, 2017

It depends a lot on the context. It can be nauseous or other things. It can also be an emotional statement

October 15, 2017

probably the first one, but I would ask a follow-up question, such as "what do you mean?" or "What's wrong?"!

October 15, 2017

As has already been said, context makes all the difference. It's often best not to make any assumptions - that's why it is said "assume makes an ass of you and me"(ass-u-me) Short sentences frequently only make sense when used in context.

October 15, 2017

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