Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[enaj64kr]

In grammar books, they say that the sentence like "I was bought a bike by Mom." is grammatically wrong. However i have seen such a sentence used even by native speakers. How can i understand this situation? Is that a grmmatical sentence or not?

[CP]

No, I don't think it's grammatical, although I have heard people say similar things. You understand what the person means, but it doesn't sound quite right.

You can properly say, "I was given a bike by Mom" or "A bike was bought for me by Mom," although that's a little awkward. Best to stick with the straightforward "Mom bought me a bike."
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[Lorikeet]

In my mind, the most important thing to remember about using the passive is to have a good reason to use it. If you mean "Mom bought me a bike." then there is no reason to say, "A bike was bought for me by mom". It just makes a simple sentence much more complex for no reason. One reason we can use passive is to hide the identity of the "doer" or because we don't know who did something.

"Apples are grown in Washington State." We don't know the people who are doing the growing, but we figure they are farmers.

"I was told to come and get a form from you." Perhaps I don't want you to know who told me to do that, or perhaps I don't remember which person told me that. The important thing is that someone told me. This language is often used in more formal situations.

I think the biggest mistake in non-native English speakers' use of the passive is to use it in a situation where it is not needed.