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Passive voice 2


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ESL Forums | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
Passive voice (She has been heard singing this song several times) | Expression: I had put over on me
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Passive voice 2 #16 (permalink) Thu Apr 17, 2008 22:45 pm   Passive voice 2		  
Quote:
Have either of you looked at more than the number of Google results? Have you googled "will not be let to" at all?


My search included "do" (be let to do). Have you searched "will not be let to do"?
Molly
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Passive voice 2 #17 (permalink) Thu Apr 17, 2008 22:48 pm   Passive voice 2		  
From the Cambridge Grammar of English.

Let is not normally used in the passive when it means ‘allow/permit’:
The families were not allowed to see the children.
*(The families were not let see the children.)
Molly
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Passive voice 2 #18 (permalink) Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:40 am   Passive voice 2		  
Yea, I also want to know Alan's idea. However may be he's busy these days because I can't him here very often...

Too many ideas up till now => (+_+)
Now let me put it in a nutshell and please check if it is right:

1/ for the first question, "he was seen stealing..." is correct and widely used, "he was seen to steal..." is also used sometimes, but not as much and suitable, all right?
2/ for the second question, "be allowed to..." is the most and only correct option, and "let" is VERY RARELY used in passive voice, ok?
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Passive voice 2 #19 (permalink) Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:45 am   Passive voice 2		  
Besides, dear Amy, you haven't answered my question about whether "he was seen steal" your car is acceptable. And if not, how can we know which is the original sentence of "he was seen stealing your car" ( I mean: is it "People saw him steal your car" or "people saw him stealing your car"?)

Many many thanks....
Nessie
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Sorry seems to be the hardest word...
Nessie
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Passive voice 2 #20 (permalink) Sat Apr 19, 2008 17:33 pm   Passive voice 2		  
Molly wrote:
he was seen to steal your car = he may have carried out the action, but he may not have completed it or may have been doing something altogether different near, or with, you car.

he was seen stealing your car = he stole it

No, this is wrong.

"He was seen to steal your car," means that he stole it and someone saw him.

Other examples:

"He was seen to be an impostor."
"She was seen to lean over the rail of the boat."
"He was seen to leave his residence."

A journalistic example:
Quote:
"They were seen to practise the tactics needed to defend themselves against an armed ambush. They were seen to adopt positions from which they fired imaginary weapons and pretended to remove the pin from grenades before throwing them. They were seen to perform leopard crawling, very low on the ground ..." The farmer, Bruce Rowland, initially called them jokingly "my Taliban" but later became concerned and banned them from his top field.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/oct/11/terrorism.ukcrime

This doesn't mean they were perceived to be doing something, it means they were doing it and someone saw them. The usage is rather formal, and is often heard in court and found in police reports.

Don't confuse "be seen to" with "be seen as":

"He was seen to be an impostor."
= People saw that he was an impostor.

"He was seen as an impostor."
= People perceived him to be an impostor, but he might not have been.
Jamie (K)
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