An "emotional response verb" is a verb that expresses an action or a state of an emotional or psychological nature. With an emotional response verb, generally someone feels something. Examples of emotional response verbs are the following:
amuse, annoy, baffle, bewilder, bore, confuse, depress, disappoint, excite, frighten, frustrate, interest, motivate, overwhelm, please, puzzle, shock, surprise
A feature of these verbs is that the emotion has a SOURCE, or stimulus, and it has a EXPERIENCER, or receiver, who feels the emotional response. The SOURCE can be a person, thing, or event; the EXPERIENCER is usually a person, although animals, too, can exhibit responses that we might label emotional (S. Polowe, NTID curriculum materials, 1983).
Here is an example of a sentence containing the emotional response verb thrilled:
The water slide thrilled the children.
Emotional response verb = thrilled
Source = the water slide
Experiencer = the children
When the subject of the sentence and the SOURCE of the emotional response are the same, as in the above example, the sentence is in the "active voice" (the verb thrilled is active). When the subject of the sentence is the same as the EXPERIENCER of the emotion, as in the next example, the sentence is in the "passive voice" (the verb were thrilled is passive).
The children were thrilled by the water slide.
Emotional response verb = were thrilled
Source = the water slide
Experiencer = the children
For further details on the active/passive distinction, see the SEA Site module on Passive Voice.