"Proper" vs "Appropriate" vs "Suitable" - English Language ...

As Cambridge Dictionary says, "proper" means: "real, satisfactory, suitable, or correct". Also, it is said that, "suitable" means: "acceptable ... EnglishLanguageLearnersStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforspeakersofotherlanguageslearningEnglish.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore "Proper"vs"Appropriate"vs"Suitable" AskQuestion Asked 2years,3monthsago Active 2years,3monthsago Viewed 5ktimes 0 2 AsCambridgeDictionarysays,"proper"means:"real,satisfactory,suitable,orcorrect".Also,itissaidthat,"suitable"means:"acceptableorrightforsomeoneorsomething".Anfinally,"appropriate"means:"suitableorrightforaparticularsituationoroccasion". Asyousee,theyhavelotsofsemanticoverlapswhichmakesapersonwholackstherequisiteintuitionfallintodoubtwhenitcomestouseeachcase.ThisiswhyIdecidedtoprovideyouwithsomeexamplestodiscoverhowandwhentouseeachcase.Iwouldappreciateitifyoukindlyletmeknowaboutthewrongchoicesforeachcase.Herearemyexamples: Suchmoviesarenot...........forchildren. a.suitable b.appropriate c.proper Twooutoffivepeoplelacka..........jobinthatcountry. a.suitable b.appropriate c.proper Suchsmallstudiosare............foryoungcoupleswhohavenochildren. a.suitable b.appropriate c.proper Ican'tcometotheceremonytomorrow!Idon'thaveany..............clothes. a.suitable b.appropriate c.proper Itisnota/an..............timetoaskheraboutthismatter. a.suitable b.appropriate c.proper Wewilltake..........actionswhenitcomesto. a.suitable b.appropriate c.proper Theydontconsiderhima/an.............husbandfortheirdaughter. a.suitable b.appropriate c.proper Pleasenotethat,tomeasanonnative,allchoiceaworkforallcasesabove. Ihavealreadyvisitedthesimilarthreadontheforum. Someusefullinks: https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/fitting-suitable-appropiate-proper.2313993/ https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/3204687 https://www.englishforums.com/English/SuitableProperAppropriate/bbcnwp/post.htm https://www.italki.com/question/191255 https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/96774-what-is-difference-between-approperiate-and-proper http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv108.shtml https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-proper-apt-and-appropriate word-usageword-choiceword-meaningdifference Share Improvethisquestion Follow askedAug6'19at14:50 A-friendA-friend 13.3k3636goldbadges164164silverbadges294294bronzebadges 4 Wheredothosesentencescomefrom? – Lambie Aug6'19at15:33 Mostofthemaretakenfromvariouscontextsanddictionarieswithsomeslightchangesinordertoclearoffthepossibleambiguities@Lambie. – A-friend Aug6'19at15:49 Well,Iseesomeredflagsbutingeneralthinkthistypeofquestionismuchtoobroad. – Lambie Aug6'19at15:53 Youareright@Lambie,butIthinkthatthisistheonlypossiblewaytoobtainaslightintuitionaboutthesetypesofsynonymouswords. – A-friend Aug6'19at16:55 Addacomment  |  1Answer 1 Active Oldest Votes 2 TheonlyoneofthesevenexampleswhereIwoulduse"proper"is Twooutoffivepeoplelackaproperjobinthatcountry. Fortheothers,yourdictionarydefinitionsstatethat"appropriate"appliestoa"particularsituationoroccasion". SoIwoulduse"suitable"in1,3,4,and7. Iwoulduse"appropriate"in5and6. Theanomalyis4,andperhapstheusageisamatterofopiniontoo. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedAug6'19at15:13 user3395 answeredAug6'19at15:10 WeatherVaneWeatherVane 13.2k22goldbadges2424silverbadges4040bronzebadges 2 Thankyou@WeatherVane,butI'mquiteconfidentthatfor#1allchoiceswouldwork(asIencounteredmanytimesinmanyoccasions).Regarding#2&3I'msurethayatleastboth'proper'and'suitable'work.Also,for#4Ihaveseenmanycasesincludingeither'appropriate'or'suitable'. – A-friend Aug6'19at15:30 1 AsIwrote,someoftheusageisamatterofopinion,andalsodependsoncontextsuchaswhetherthespeakerismakinga"valuejudgement",saywhen"proper"mightbeusedbyaspeakerfromonecountry,butnotfromanother.Asfor#2intheusualcontext,onetalksabouthavinga"properjob"(i.e.anactualjob,withpayetc).Asfor#4,that'swhatIwrotesoyoudon'tdisagree.In#3"proper"wouldonlybeusedbysomeonefromaculturethathasverystricttraditionsofwhattypeofaccomodationshouldbeinhabited. – WeatherVane Aug6'19at15:38 Addacomment  |  Youmustlogintoanswerthisquestion. 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