Learn English – feel sad or sadness

word-choice

I see "sad" and "sadness" both can follow the verb feel to express unhappiness.

For example

  • Everybody can feel sadness sometimes.
  • Everybody can feel sad sometimes.

Is there any difference between the two sentences?

Best Answer

Your first example is not correct. "I feel sadness" is not good English. You can say, "I am filled with sadness," or "I am overcome with sadness," but when you use a sense verb like "feel," what needs to follow is an adjective.

Similarly, we say "I feel tired," not "I feel fatigue." "I am overcome by fatigue," on the other hand, would be correct because "to overcome" is not a sense verb.

See: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/sense-verbs/

Related Topic