Interested candidate?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

I think this is a wrong usage of interested? But I have seen many people use this word esp. in vacancy ads. Are there any reasonable explanations for this? If we don’t use interested candidate or party, what else should we use?
Thanks a lot.

Theresa

2

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I don’t see that the phrase is necessarily wrong. What context are you speaking of?
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3

I meant the usage of interested. I have looked it up in the collocation dictionary. They do not have interested plus noun.

Regards,
Theresa

4

I don’t always support using Google, because anyone can write something with terrible grammar and post it, and sure enough, you’ll get a hit for it.

But there are 1.7 million hits for “interested party” and almost 1.6 million for “interested candidates.” I think you can be safe in assuming people use it.

5

Basically, the past participle form (interested) indicates that someone has become interested or has an interest in something.

When you use the present participle form (interesting), you are referring to the person or thing that causes or arouses interest.

Though the following example is not a particularly natural sentence, it may help you to understand the difference:

  • The interested audience is watching an interesting play.
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6

Thanks, Amy. You always have the answer whenever I turn to you. Just one more question, does this apply to other adjectives formed by a verb + ED?
For example: The amazed student was amazed at the amazing finding.

7

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Yes.
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8

Boring teachers make bored students. :slight_smile: