student asking question

Can I say "desirable" instead of "encouraging"?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

“Desirable” isn’t quite appropriate for this context. The speaker uses the adjective “encouraging” here to mean that the changes seen in Beast as a result of his love for Belle to be “positive” or “promising,” hinting at a hopeful future. Thus, “promising” would be a better fit than “desirable” here. Ex: The improvements seen in my student’s math grades are very encouraging. Ex: The company is showing signs of recovery, which is very encouraging.

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