Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sigmund]

I am having a hard time with this sentence, I am wondering if anyone more knowledgeable than myself could answer it.

It is using "let" with the past simple in the passive voice.

For example.

Dad would not let me buy a phone. Active

I was not let to buy a phone by my dad. Passive.

The passive just sound awkward and wrong. But if you replace "let" with "allow" it seems fine. Is that passive form of "let" correct?

[Snowkr]

No, it is not okay.

Niether is using "allowed" in that sentence unless you re-arrange the structure... "by my dad" is a dangling modifier in the position you've written it. It's misplaced.

You can use:

I was not allowed by my dad + to (infinitive)


"Let" should be used in an active sentence.

[Easter Clark]

^

Yeah, "let" is followed by an object and the base form of the verb (which pretty much demands it be used in the active voice).

For the passive, I'd use "permit" + infinitive--I wasn't permitted to buy a phone. But "allowed" works fine as well.

I would think that using "Let" in the passive voice would only be used as an imperative--"Let it be done" = "Do it." But that's a stretch, I think.

sigmund--where did you find this sentence? In a Korean English textbook?

[sigmund]

It actually came from a Korean teacher during a class. She pulled me aside, during the class, and was insistent that she had heard that in a grammar book and it was correct form. I honestly couldn't understand/follow what she was talking about, both in comprehension, mine of her English, and grammar point. She was incredibly insistent and maybe upset that I wouldn't agree with her. Like I said, there is definitely a language barrier, and honestly I am not that great at grammar, but her point seemed to maybe be that you use "let to" in the passive voice? It was in reference to another sentence that I used in class

They didn't let him go.
He was not let go by them.

Incorrect?

Thanks for the responses.

[The Cosmic Hum]

He was not let go by them...is correct.

[Easter Clark]

[sigmund]

Thanks for the help guys. I guess I could ask her to clarify what she was talking about, but it is more effort than I have the patience for right now.