Engaged upon/in

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1
  1. They are engaged upon cancer research.
  2. He is now engaged upon his second novel.
  3. They are engaged in talks with the Irish government.
  4. They were engaged in a legal battle with the council.

In what context do we use ‘engaged upon’ and ‘engaged in’? Can we use them interchangeably?

Thanks in advance.

2

I have never heard ‘engaged upon’; it sounds old-fashioned if acceptable. COCA produces 8974 examples of ‘engaged in’ but only 7 examples of ‘engaged upon’. Perhaps it is more BrE? I wouldn’t use it at all.

3

Yes, “engaged upon” sounds acceptable to me as BrE, in certain cases. I wouldn’t say “engaged upon talks”, for example, because the natural form of words is “in talks”. However, I might use “engaged upon his second novel”.

4

Mister Micawber,
“They engaged in talks with the Irish government.”
“They engaged in a legal battle with the council.”
Are these sentences correct or not?

5

Those are correct.

6
  1. “They engaged in talks with the Irish government.”
  2. “They are engaged in talks with the Irish government.”
    What is the difference in meaning between these two sentences?
7

The first is past; the second is presently.

8

Mister Micawber,
“They were engaged in talks with the Irish government.”
Is this same in meaning with the sentence -
“They engaged in talks with the Irish government.” ?
Are both in past tense?

9

The meaning is the same, yes, but the past continuous requires that some other past action be included in the context.

10

Mister Micawber,
I am a little confused.

  1. “They were engaged in talks with the Irish government.”
  2. “They engaged in talks with the Irish government.”
    Which of the sentence is the past continuous?
    For me, the 1st one looks passive whereas the 2nd one looks to be in active voice.
    Please clarify me to understand.
    Thanks.
11

Neither one is past continuous. It is my mistake; I must have been tired and ‘seen’ ‘were engaging’.

  1. “They were engaged in talks with the Irish government.” – ‘Engaged’ is an adjective.
  2. “They engaged in talks with the Irish government.” – Active voice.

The first states a past condition, the 2nd a past action.

12

Thanks Mister Micawber and Dozy.

Dozy, I have some doubt here though. In what cases do we use ‘engage upon’ in BrE?

13

I’m afraid I’m unable to enumerate the specific cases in which “engaged upon” can be used (BrE). The question seems too open. To me, both your original examples with “upon” seem OK. Some other Googled examples, all of which sound OK to me:

“ISAAC NOVINGER, a farmer of Gilpin township, who was engaged upon the construction of the Pennsylvania canal and railroad…”

“Provided the student is genuinely engaged upon a topic, and provided the teacher is willing to give the student a good deal of leeway as to what he assimilates…”

“The two parties engaged upon an escalating political struggle.”

These illustrate a difference betwen “to be engaged upon”, which we have seen before, and “to engage upon” (last sentence), which has more of a sense of embarking upon a project or activity.

Note that “engaged on” is also used.

14

I thought ‘to be engaged upon’ and ‘to engage upon’ literally meant the same thing? Now I am a little confused.

Thank you for doing some research in this area for me, though. :slight_smile: