Gramer Girl here.

I'm Mignon Fogarty and this week I have a quick and dirty tip about the difference between

anxious and eager and a meaty middle about why the phrase if not can be ambiguous.

And now onto anxious or eager.

To sum, anxious has more of a negative connotation than eager.

Your eager for your long-distance boyfriend's plane to arrive, unless you're going to break

up with him, then you're more likely to be anxious about his arrival because you're

dreading a confrontation.

Anxious is evolving though.

The distinction between anxious and eager was much stronger in the 17th century.

Today, many people use the words interchangeably.

Three major dictionaries imply that it's okay to use anxious to mean eager.

From dictionary.com saying it's fully standard to the American heritage dictionary saying

resistance is waning.

Garner's modern English usage says using anxious to mean eager is ubiquitous.

Here are some examples.

You can say, I'm eager to see the dessert tray.

Nobody would dispute that.

The dessert tray is a good thing.

Well, unless you're on a diet.

Okay, people who can't have dessert may dispute that sentence.

But in general, most people will be eager to see the dessert tray.

...