Appeal

01This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer the following question from a listener.

02Dear Teacher, could you please say more about the meaning of appeal?

03Thank you.

04Like many words in English, appeal has more than one meaning.

05It can also be more than one part of speech.

06A part of speech means the grammatical function a word has, such as a noun, verb, adverb, or adjective.

07Let's look at the many ways we can use the word appeal.

08As a verb, appeal means to make a request, often in official situations or involving important things.

09Generally, we do not use appeal for normal, everyday requests.

10For example, we would not say, I appeal for you to get some milk at the store.

11But we would say something like, The earthquake victims appealed to the government for more aid.

12Appealing We can change the meaning of appeal by making it an adjective.

13One way to do this is to use the ing ending.

14This forms the word appealing, which describes something that has a pleasing quality.

15Consider the following examples.

16That job is really appealing to me.

17Her dress looks really appealing.

18The nice weather makes that city so appealing.

19That argument is appealing to many voters.

20As shown in these examples, We can use the adjective appealing to describe many different things.

21The word appeal can also be used as a noun.

22One meaning as a noun describes a formal or urgent request, as shown in the following examples.

23Their appeal for help was not answered.

24The employees made an appeal to reduce the number of hours of work.

25The second example above shows that we often use the verb make before the noun appeal.

26The word appeal can also be used as a noun to describe a quality that creates interest, sympathy, or attraction.

27Here are some examples of that usage.

28The museum's design has a lot of appeal.

29The appeal of that music is its simplicity.

30Using appeal in the law.

31Appeal is also often used in legal matters, both as a noun or a verb.

32As a noun, it means a formal request to a court to review a decision by another court.

33If one court accepts the other's request, we can say the court granted the appeal.

34If the court rejects the appeal, we can say the court denied it.

35The following example shows appeal being used as a verb in legal English.

36The defense team will likely appeal the decision.

37An adjective form of appeal is also used in the legal system.

38The adjective appellate describes a kind of court that deals with cases that have been appealed.

39For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English?

40Was this lesson appealing to you?

41We want to hear your thoughts.

42Send us an email at learningenglish at voanews.com And please let us know where you are from, too.

43And that's Ask a Teacher.

44I'm Andrew Smith.