Is welcomed used correctly in the sentence: "Your feedback is welcomed"?
William
[ Editor ]
You may want to switch from passive voice to active and avoid the problem entirely:
We welcome your feedback.
Is welcomed used correctly in the sentence: Your feedback is welcomed?
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4 answers
Paul Chaplin
Yes, although welcome would also be correct in this particular example. The difference is that in "Your feedback is welcome", welcome is an adjective (applying to the feedback), but in "Your feedback is welcomed", the sentence is in the passive voice, and [being] welcomed (past tense) is what happens to the feedback.
Either version sounds perfectly reasonable in my native British English, but the adjectival form might be less likely to cause confusion.
Jason Donald O'Conal
[ Editor ]
'Welcomed' is an adjectival participle (an adjective formed from a verb). It means 'made welcome, gladly received' (OED). Thus, both 'welcome' and 'welcomed' are correct.
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donald remero
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Exactly. I don’t think anything here contradicts that. Correct does not, however, always mean effective. And sometimes we miss our intentions, and also, albeit unintentionally, avoid landing outside a strict concept of the incorrect. In other words, (mere) correctness can (still) be awkward. =)
donald remero
[ Moderator ]
I basically support the analysis of Paul Chaplin.
If the sentence is directed at a specific individual in, say, a private message, then it does not appear to me to reflect your true meaning, which is most likely almost a kind of solicitation for feedback. In which case, it would be better to say, "Your feedback is welcome."
If the statement is directed at a wide audience, say on a web page, or is meant to be a tag line of sorts, then telling me what happens to feedback makes more sense. But it will stick out a bit, and if that is what you want, then that's great.
So, whether it is used incorrectly depends entirely on what you actually mean to say.