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sungstar
Joined: 08 Nov 2006 Posts: 6
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Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 5:44 pm Post subject: He is resembled by his son? |
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Hi,
For some reason, the question I posted disappered, so I'm writing again.
I wonder if the sentence "He is resembled by his son." is correct. I know there are some active verbs which can not form a sentence in passive voice, but which verbs?
Thank you. |
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Anuradha Chepur
Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 933
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Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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Intransitive verbs cannot be passivised. (eg. go, sleep, die etc)
A passive is not to be used for the heck of it, and only so when the doer/agent is unknown/unimportant/understood.
The exams have been postponed. (The agent is understood - the board.)
The room has been cleaned. (Who has done it is unimportant/unknown, what matters is whether the room is cleaned or not.)
A passive is used only when it makes sense
His son resembles him. This doen't make sense in the passive.
Last edited by Anuradha Chepur on Mon Nov 20, 2006 1:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Lorikeet

Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Posts: 1877 Location: San Francisco
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Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 9:07 pm Post subject: Re: He is resembled by his son? |
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sungstar wrote: |
Hi,
For some reason, the question I posted disappered, so I'm writing again.
I wonder if the sentence "He is resembled by his son." is correct. I know there are some active verbs which can not form a sentence in passive voice, but which verbs?
Thank you. |
Actually, it didn't disappear, but it was in a different forum. I found out when I moved it here and found this one too, so I deleted the other one. |
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