Why people were enthused about GCC early on in its life

Re:Why people were enthused about GCC early on in its life by carlob on Monday February 02, 2015 @12:31PM (#8985364)

Honest question about grammar (not a native speaker): is enthused correct here? Other than the fact that enthuse is a verb that was made up from enthusiasm, shouldn't this be "Why people were enthusiastic about…", "Why people enthused about…" or "Why people were enthused by…"?

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Re:Why people were enthused about GCC early on in its life by munificent on Monday February 02, 2015 @12:58PM (#8985540)

It's correct. As an intransitive verb, the subject is the person feeling enthusiasm. "I'm enthused to be going to Disneyland!"

As a transitive verb, the subject is the thing causing enthusiasm. "Disneyland enthuses me!" (This formation does tend to be less common.)

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Re:Why people were enthused about GCC early on in its life by carlob on Monday February 02, 2015 @04:56PM (#8987289)

Don't all verbs use have as the auxiliary in the present perfect tense? As such I am enthused would not be an intransitive verb, but either a nominal predicate or a passive verbal predicate. A correct intransitive form would be "I've enthused about going to Disneyland".

In the first case enthused should be replaced by enthusiastic, which is the correct adjective, in the second case you would use by rather than about as a preposition for the agent. Correct?

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Re:Why people were enthused about GCC early on in its life by frandroid on Monday February 02, 2015 @03:23PM (#8986687)

You'll just never find anyone using this verb in spoken English...

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Re:Why people were enthused about GCC early on in its life by omega_rythm on Monday February 02, 2015 @12:39PM (#8985430)

Yes, it's correct, at least my dictionary says so.

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