Concerned about ‘concern’

Posted by pakguru on March 16th, 2016 | 0 comments | grammar, IELTS, prihatin, speaking, vocabulary, writing

The government does not concern about the crime rate in cities.

Here concern is used in the form of a verb, but the grammar is not right. It would have been better to use to be along with the adjective form of concern: concerned.

On the one hand you can be concerned about nothing in particular:

• The government is not concerned.

And on the other hand you can (not) to be concerned about a particular thing:

• The government is not concerned about the crime rate in cities.

If something is the object of concern, then remember to use the preposition: concerned about (something).

It’s also possible to say the same thing using concern as a noun, where concern often collocates with another word (in this case, ’cause’):

• The government does not consider the crime rate in cities to be a cause for concern.

And it’s also possible to use the verb form (notice the auxiliary verb ‘to do’ in the construction of the negative!):

• The crime rate in cities does not concern the government.

So which one to use? Adjective? Noun? Verb? Well if you can remember to put __ed onto concern and add about, it’s probably best to use the adjective form!

Tell us about some of the things you’re concerned about. Use the comments box below this post.