Passive voice 2

[Nessie]

Hi,
please help me with these transformation exercise:

1/ People saw him steal your car
=> should it be "he was seen to steal your car"
or:
he was seen stealing your car

2/ He won't let you do that silly thing again
=> should it be "you won't be let to do that silly thing again"
or:
you won't be let do that silly thing again

Many thanks
Nessie
_________________
... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know..

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Tom]

Hi

[Yankee]

.
I'd suggest these:

1. He was seen stealing your car.

2. You won't be allowed to do that silly thing again.

EDIT:
Thanks for pointing out the typo, Molly. I've fixed it.
.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, and native speaker of American English

[Molly]

[Nessie]

Hi Amy, thanks a lot for your help. I still have some queries:

For question 1, do we ever use "he was seen steal your car"? if not, how can we distinguish the meaning of the 2 sentences "people saw him steal your car" and "people saw him stealing your car"?

For question 2, do we ever use "you won't be let to do that silly thing again"? or is that usage unnatural to native speakers?

Thanks a lot
Nessie
_________________
... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know..

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Molly]

"Won't be let do something" is used, but I'm not sure if it's collocationally OK in your example

[Nessie]

But when I check it on Google, here is the result:

"be let to do": 7050 times
"be let do": 1230 times

What do you think?
_________________
... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know..

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Molly]

I don't know if we have different Googles, but I get this:

Results 1 - 77 of 77 English pages for "be let to do".
Results 1 - 100 of about 864 English pages for "be let do".

And the publication below says that "be let (to) do something" is chiefly British and is marginal in American English where the use "someone is allowed to do something" is more idiomatic. It also says that "be let (to) do something" is the theoretical passive of "let someone do something". I think the word "theoretical" is important, there.

Source: British Or American English?: A Handbook of Word and Grammar Patterns By John Algeo, Merja Kytö

[Nessie]

May I have your idea, Amy?

Many thanks
Nessie
_________________
... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know..

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Nessie]

Hic, another problem has arised since three of my teachers have told me the exact answer for question 1 is "he was seen to steal your car". They said both sentences are correct but because the original sentence is not in the -ing form, the passive sentence shouldn't be, either. I told them I think "he was seen to steal your car" is wrong, but they told me it is right, and this rule appears in many grammar books. I'm so confused... (+_+)

For question 2, please tell me if is ok to use "be let to do something" or "be let do something"

I need help as soon as possible, especially from Alan and Amy.

A zillion thanks
Nessie
_________________
... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know..

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Molly]

[Nessie]

I don't know, I', just too confused (+_+)
_________________
... something we never have again, I know... I guess I really really know..

Sorry seems to be the hardest word...

[Molly]

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

[Yankee]

Have either of you looked at more than the number of Google results? Have you googled "will not be let to" at all? From what I see on the first page of results, there are quite a few instances of "let" being used with a meaning similar to "rent":
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=45654&dict=CALD

Using "allowed to (do)" rather than "let to (do)" in your particular passive sentence sounds far more natural to me, Nessie. That may simply be another AmE vs BE difference, I guess.

With any luck, maybe Alan will tell you whether "let" would sound natural to his British ears in your passive sentence.
.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, and native speaker of American English

[Stew.t.]

Hi

In BE "let" also could not be used in the passive as proposed here.

We are not so far apart really, just a ponds width ; )

Maybe add "You wont be allowed to do such a silly/daft thing again" as an alternative; "daft" is frequently used in BE, what about AE?

cheers stew.t.
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Please meet Stewart Tunncilff