Appeal
2025-03-01
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1This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer the following question from a listener.
2Dear teacher,
3Could you please say more about the meaning of "appeal?"
4Thank you.
5Like many words in English, "appeal" has more than one meaning.
6It can also be more than one part of speech.
7A part of speech means the grammatical function a word has, such as a noun, verb, adverb or adjective.
8Let's look at the many ways we can use the word "appeal."
9As a verb, "appeal" means to make a request, often in official situations or involving important things.
10Generally, we do not use "appeal" for normal, everyday requests.
11For example, we would not say:
12I appeal for you to get some milk at the store.
13But we would say something like:
14The earthquake victims appealed to the government for more aid.
15Appealing
16We can change the meaning of "appeal" by making it an adjective.
17One way to do this is to use the -ing ending.
18This forms the word "appealing," which describes something that has a pleasing quality.
19Consider the following examples:
20That job is really appealing to me.
21Her dress looks really appealing.
22The nice weather makes that city so appealing.
23That argument is appealing to many voters.
24As shown in these examples, we can use the adjective "appealing" to describe many different things.
25The word "appeal" can also be used as a noun.
26One meaning as a noun describes a formal or urgent request, as shown in the following examples:
27Their appeal for help was not answered.
28The employees made an appeal to reduce the number of hours of work.
29The second example above shows that we often use the verb "make" before the noun "appeal."
30The word "appeal" can also be used as a noun to describe a quality that creates interest, sympathy, or attraction.
31Here are some examples of that usage:
32The museum's design has a lot of appeal.
33The appeal of that music is its simplicity.
34Using "appeal" in the law
35"Appeal" is also often used in legal matters - both as a noun or a verb.
36As a noun, it means a formal request to a court to review a decision by another court.
37If one court accepts the other's request, we can say the court "granted" the appeal.
38If the court rejects the appeal, we can say the court "denied" it.
39The following example shows "appeal" being used as a verb in legal English:
40The defense team will likely appeal the decision.
41An adjective form of "appeal" is also used in the legal system.
42The adjective "appellate" describes a kind of court that deals with cases that have been appealed.
43For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English?
44Was this lesson appealing to you? We want to hear your thoughts!
45Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com.
46And please let us know where you are from, too.
47And that's Ask a Teacher.
48I'm Andrew Smith.
1This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer the following question from a listener. 2Dear teacher, 3Could you please say more about the meaning of "appeal?" 4Thank you. 5Like many words in English, "appeal" has more than one meaning. It can also be more than one part of speech. A part of speech means the grammatical function a word has, such as a noun, verb, adverb or adjective. Let's look at the many ways we can use the word "appeal." 6As a verb, "appeal" means to make a request, often in official situations or involving important things. Generally, we do not use "appeal" for normal, everyday requests. For example, we would not say: 7I appeal for you to get some milk at the store. 8But we would say something like: 9The earthquake victims appealed to the government for more aid. 10Appealing 11We can change the meaning of "appeal" by making it an adjective. One way to do this is to use the -ing ending. This forms the word "appealing," which describes something that has a pleasing quality. Consider the following examples: 12That job is really appealing to me. 13Her dress looks really appealing. 14The nice weather makes that city so appealing. 15That argument is appealing to many voters. 16As shown in these examples, we can use the adjective "appealing" to describe many different things. 17The word "appeal" can also be used as a noun. One meaning as a noun describes a formal or urgent request, as shown in the following examples: 18Their appeal for help was not answered. 19The employees made an appeal to reduce the number of hours of work. 20The second example above shows that we often use the verb "make" before the noun "appeal." 21The word "appeal" can also be used as a noun to describe a quality that creates interest, sympathy, or attraction. Here are some examples of that usage: 22The museum's design has a lot of appeal. 23The appeal of that music is its simplicity. 24Using "appeal" in the law 25"Appeal" is also often used in legal matters - both as a noun or a verb. As a noun, it means a formal request to a court to review a decision by another court. If one court accepts the other's request, we can say the court "granted" the appeal. If the court rejects the appeal, we can say the court "denied" it. 26The following example shows "appeal" being used as a verb in legal English: 27The defense team will likely appeal the decision. 28An adjective form of "appeal" is also used in the legal system. The adjective "appellate" describes a kind of court that deals with cases that have been appealed. 29For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English? Was this lesson appealing to you? We want to hear your thoughts! Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com. And please let us know where you are from, too. 30And that's Ask a Teacher. 31I'm Andrew Smith. 32Andrew Smith wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 33________________________________________________________ 34Words in This Story 35function -n. the special action something or someone does to do a task or job 36attraction -n. a positive feeling toward something that makes you interested in it or like it 37grant -v. give permission