m_prime
Joined: 28 Dec 2008
Posts: 52
Location: Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
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 Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:54 am Post subject: |
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Hi B7lake
| Quote: |
| We took an immediate action. |
Usually we we would not use an article (a, an, the) here unless we wanted to make it clear that we refering to a single or specific action. If we say "we took immediate action" it normally means that we have responded quickly to a situation, it is a phrase that will be used commonly and can be used to describe one or many actions.
The second sentence,
| Quote: |
| The government took a passive action |
does not really make sense. To be 'passive' means to do nothing or very little, whilst 'action' means to act or respond in a certain way. The two are almost contradictory.
There is a common phrase used by native speakers which is "to take positive action", which basically means to act substancially and in the best way possible. Ex, "The EU took positive action to secure a seize -fire in the Middle East".
Hope this makes sense to you. |
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