In response to my query: > > Why is *playing* more of an action than *enjoys*? Mike Medley wrote: > If my friend is *playing* on the computer, I can observe some actions > going on. I may not be able to observe whether he is *enjoying* it, > for that describes his state of mind, and I'm not a good > mind-reader. Perhaps, knowing something about his degree of > *enjoying* depends on his degree of transparency as a person. OK; sure, I understand that *playing* is more transparently observable than enjoying, generally, but enjoyment implies active participation in something, I think. I have studied and played music, and have attended thousands of concerts; in these contexts, enjoyment was an eminently observable phenomenon. I guess this is simply a question of whether syntax can be altered by the context of a given statement. I'm curious how the answer plays out in other list members' minds. Curiously yours, Paul E. Doniger