The passive

h.saeed · Post by **h.saeed** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 6:02 pm

Hi all,
One of my students has asked me to change the following sentence into passive
I hate people insulting me.
We had some discussion over it with fellow teachers but we had different views
1.People who insult me are hated (by me)
2.People insulting me are hated by me.
What do you think?
Best,
Hussein.

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 7:17 pm

I hate being insulted.

JuanTwoThree · Post by **JuanTwoThree** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 7:19 pm

Both are passives and I suppose the second is the passive of your original in terms of position switching etc. However, neither sound particularly natural.

You might even argue that "people insulting me" is not plural but siingular depending on if it's them or the insulting that you hate:

People shouting at night annoy me.

People shouting at night annoys me.

Why not tell your student that the passive is:

"I hate being insulted (by people)" which sounds far more like something that might be said.

JuanTwoThree · Post by **JuanTwoThree** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 7:22 pm

Great minds think alike but they don't always check to see if the question was answered while they typed laboriously.

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 11:15 pm

h.saeed wrote:Hi all,
One of my students has asked me to change the following sentence into passive
I hate people insulting me.
We had some discussion over it with fellow teachers but we had different views
1.People who insult me are hated (by me)
2.People insulting me are hated by me.
What do you think?
Best,
Hussein.

I am insulted by certain people and I hate them for it.

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