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 #2 (permalink) Fri Feb 10, 2012 21:35 pm Can we make this sentence passive. |
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| It is not grammatically forbidden but it is not natural English. |
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Dozy
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| #3 (permalink) Fri Feb 10, 2012 21:49 pm Can we make this sentence passive. |
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Sounds very contrived indeed.
TOEIC listening, photographs: In the workshop |
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Torsten
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| #4 (permalink) Fri Feb 10, 2012 22:56 pm Can we make this sentence passive. |
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Hello Salim,
| Quote: |
My family travelled to Rome .
Is it correct to say Rome was travelled to by my family |
to travel can be an intransitive verb in most cases and a transitive verb very rarely. In this case it is an intransitive verb. We musn't transform the intransitive verbs in passive tense.
But you say travel sth you can transform:
Active:He travelled the length of Nile in a canoe.
Passive: The length of Nile was travelled by him in a canoe.
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 Kati Svaby
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| #5 (permalink) Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:36 am Can we make this sentence passive. |
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| Kati Svaby wrote: |
Hello Salim,
to travel can be an intransitive verb in most cases and a transitive verb very rarely. In this case it is an intransitive verb. We musn't transform the intransitive verbs in passive tense.
But you say travel sth you can transform:
Active:He travelled the length of Nile in a canoe.
Passive: The length of Nile was travelled by him in a canoe. |
To me, in bold, no sense at all. Neither he can travel "length" nor a river nor anything else.
He could travel up/down the river, only, though. |
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E2e4
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| #6 (permalink) Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:11 am Can we make this sentence passive. |
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I just liked to imply this, Transitive verb can't work without object.
Or, Transitive verb has object.
I travelled to Japan. This sentence has no object, after just preposition you will not get any subject or object.
Again, modern English writing is tend to avoid all passive forms, so, we shouldn't much
think about these passive sentences.
Please see at GMAT/GRE English suggestions.
www.englishgrammar.wordpress.com
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Minhajquazi
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| #7 (permalink) Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:32 am Can we make this sentence passive. |
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| E2e4 wrote: |
But you say travel sth you can transform:
Active:He travelled the length of Nile in a canoe.
Passive: The length of Nile was travelled by him in a canoe. |
To me, in bold, no sense at all. Neither he can travel "length" nor a river nor anything else.
He could travel up/down the river, only, though.[/quote]
You are mistaken, E2.
It's perfectly permissible and correct to say
He travelled the length of the river
or he travelled the length of the road, etc.
The only thing wrong with the sentences you placed in bold is that there should be a definite article before 'Nile':
He travelled the length of the Nile in a canoe.
The length of the Nile was travelled by him in a canoe.
(Though it is unlikely that you would ever see the passive form of this sentence outside of a grammar textbook).
You can also say someone travelled the width of something.
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Beeesneees
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| #8 (permalink) Sat Feb 11, 2012 13:14 pm Can we make this sentence passive. |
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Hello Bez,
I really wanted to write with a definite article, so:
The length of the Nile was travelled by him in a canoe.
I know in theory that we have to say the name of the rivers with a definite article as I say very frequently: the Danube.
Sorry! And many thanks for your correction:
Kati
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Kati Svaby
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| #9 (permalink) Sat Feb 11, 2012 19:55 pm Can we make this sentence passive. |
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Hello Bez,
At the first reading I didn't notice your last sentence:
| Quote: |
| (Though it is unlikely that you would ever see the passive form of this sentence outside of a grammar textbook). |
This passive sentence didn't come out from my brain. I reveal you that to travel as a transitive verb was unfamiliar to me.
So I looked up when this verb can be transitive. I found one single sentence in the Oxford Dictionary:
"He travelled the length of the Nile in a canoe."
I tried this sentence converted into passive form, and I didn't take the sentence from a grammar book, perhaps you can't find in a grammar book either.
Could you help me to write to travel (T) will work in a passive sentence. Does it exist at all?
My aim was that the first sentence can't be converted into passive form because it is an intransitive verb. I am sorry that I attempt to make an example.
Regards:
Kati
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Kati Svaby
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| #10 (permalink) Sat Feb 11, 2012 21:04 pm Can we make this sentence passive. |
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Hello Kati,
Your passive sentence does work= apart from the missing article you got it grammatically correct. It's just that the passive form does not seem the most natural form to use in so many situations. It sounds odd and strained even though it's correct. (That's probably why you couldn't find an example using it.)
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Beeesneees
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| #11 (permalink) Sat Feb 11, 2012 21:04 pm Can we make this sentence passive. |
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Hello Bez,
In the Cambridge Dictionary I found this example:
"As a young man he had travelled (= been to many parts of) the world."
This can be converted into passive form, that it would be easy to understand?
The world had been travelled by this young man in his youth.
or
Many parts of the world had been travelled by this young men in his youth.
Redards:
Kati Svaby
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Kati Svaby
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| #12 (permalink) Sat Feb 11, 2012 21:11 pm Can we make this sentence passive. |
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All these passive forms are easy to understand, but they still don't sound natural. They sound stilted and formal in many cases.
The passive form certainly has its uses, but the uses are not as many and varied as it may appear from grammar exercises which simply try to provide as much practice as possible in creating different forms of sentences.
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Beeesneees
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| #13 (permalink) Sat Feb 11, 2012 21:21 pm Can we make this sentence passive. |
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Hello Bez,
| Quote: |
| they still don't sound natural. They sound stilted and formal in many cases. |
If my every attempts are stilted can I ask you if you meet a sentence what can be used in everyday speaking think of me.
Or can be this verb really intransitive and if it is sometimes transitive you can use it only in active form?
Regards:
Kati
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Kati Svaby
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| #14 (permalink) Sun Feb 12, 2012 0:08 am Can we make this sentence passive. |
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You can use it in active and passive forms -- but the passive form often sounds stilted.
It's nothing to do with your sentence structure or your choice of verb or you.
It's not a personal criticism. It's just the way it is with many passive sentences.
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Beeesneees
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| #15 (permalink) Sun Feb 12, 2012 6:55 am Can we make this sentence passive. |
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Never mind, passive forms are not now a standard modern English in writing.
Without any digression, I noticed it from the English of GMAT preparation in 2000.
These are only to see the fragmentation and analyzing of all words in a sentence.
Thanks all.
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