Emotional Triggers

noun a feeling of annoyance or irritation

verb to irritate, annoy, or bother someone

• The constant interruptions during the meeting began to irk the CEO.
• It really irks me when people chew loudly.
• Her constant complaining really irks me.
• The way she always takes credit for other people's work really irks me.

noun a personal dislike or source of irritation

• One of my biggest pet peeves is when people interrupt others while they are speaking.
• My pet peeve is when someone leaves dirty dishes in the sink without washing them.
• It really grinds my gears when people don't use their turn signals while driving, that's my pet peeve.
• His constant tapping on the desk during the meeting was like a pet peeve that drove me crazy.

verb to stir up or arouse a feeling or reaction in someone

• The controversial article provoked a heated debate among scholars.
• Her rude comment really provoked him.
• The prank they pulled on him really provoked him to anger.
• The haunting melody of the music provoked a flood of memories.

noun a word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea

verb a word that expresses an action or a state of being

adverb a word that modifies or describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb

preposition a word that shows the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and other words in a sentence

article a word that specifies a noun as definite or indefinite

• His arrogant attitude tends to rub the wrong way with many of his colleagues.
• Her constant bragging really rubs me the wrong way.
• That guy's comments always rub me the wrong way, he's so annoying.
• The new policy change seems to rub the wrong way with a lot of employees.

noun A noun is a word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea. 'Touch off' does not function as a noun in this context.

verb A verb is a word that expresses an action or state of being. In this case, 'touch off' is a verb phrase meaning to trigger or set off something.

adverb An adverb is a word that modifies or describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb. 'Touch off' does not have an adverb in this context.

preposition A preposition is a word that shows the relationship between a noun (or pronoun) and other words in a sentence. 'Off' is a preposition in the verb phrase 'touch off', indicating the direction or movement away from something.

• The match was used to touch off the fireworks display.
• He touched off a debate among his friends with his controversial statement.
• She touched off a party with her killer dance moves.
• The small argument touched off a full-blown conflict between the two countries.

noun a word used to identify a person, place, thing, or idea, but in this case 'triggering' is not functioning as a noun in this context.

verb a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, such as 'triggering' which indicates causing something to happen.

adjective a word used to describe or modify a noun, such as 'triggering' which describes something that causes a reaction or response.

• The triggering of the alarm system alerted the security team.
• Her comment ended up triggering a heated debate among the group.
• I can't believe he said that, it's so triggering!
• The sight of the old house triggered memories of her childhood.

noun a word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea

verb a word that expresses an action or a state of being

preposition a word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence

article a word that is used to specify a noun as definite or indefinite

• Her comments really touched him on the raw during the meeting.
• What she said really hit a nerve with him during the conversation.
• Her words really got under his skin and bothered him a lot.
• The movie's portrayal of loss and grief really touched viewers on the raw.