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puzzle
Joined: 17 Oct 2005
Posts: 198
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 Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 4:17 pm Post subject: provide |
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Dear teachers,
It seems to be an easy question, but I'm confused,so could you help me with it?
We say " provide sth for sb.", but what's its passive form? I see it in a reference book as" sth. be provided to sb." ,and is it right? Can we say" sth. be provided for sb."? Is there any difference?
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CP
Joined: 12 Jun 2006
Posts: 2875
Location: California
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| Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:20 pm Post subject: |
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The passive form of "provide something to someone" would be "someone is provided something by someone else."
Active: Joe provided his children with many toys.
Passive: The children were provided with many toys by their father, Joe.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb |
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EnglishRaven
Joined: 04 Jan 2008
Posts: 71
Location: Changwon Korea and Melbourne Australia
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| Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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"Toys were provided for the children."
So yes, the construction is possible and even common.
The point of using 'provide' here in the passive is when we don't know who did the providing, or it is not important to know.
As for "provide to" - this seems incorrect (or at least uncommon) to me. CP's examples above also feature 'provide + for' or 'provide + with' - which I would propose are the most common verb+preposition forms of 'provide'.
Cheers,
- Jason
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