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Thread: bear / to be borne

  1. #1
    puzzle is offline Senior Member
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    Default bear / to be borne

    The baby is going to be borne next week.

    Can "to be borne" be replaced by "to bear"? Please.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: bear / to be borne

    Quote Originally Posted by puzzle View Post
    The baby is going to be borne next week.

    Can "to be borne" be replaced by "to bear"? Please.
    No. And there is no e on 'born' in this meaning of the word.

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    puzzle is offline Senior Member
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    Threadstarter / Original Poster

    Default Re: bear / to be borne

    Sorry.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: bear / to be borne

    Quote Originally Posted by puzzle View Post
    Sorry.
    Don''t apologise - you simply made a mistake, and a natural one.

    It is a peculiarity of modern English that we largely restrict the active voice of 'bear' (become pregnant, carry and give birth to) to such sentences as 'As a result of the accident, she was unable to bear children'. Even this is rather formal; most of us would use 'have'.

    In the sense of 'carry', 'suport the weight of', 'bear' (active) or, as 'be borne' (passive), is rather old-fashioned and/or formal.

    In the sense of 'come into the world', we use only 'be born'.

    I was born in 1946.

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    Default Re: bear / to be borne

    .

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    Default Re: bear / to be borne

    Quote Originally Posted by fivejedjon View Post
    ...

    In the sense of 'carry', 'support the weight of', 'bear' (active) or, as 'be borne' (passive), is rather old-fashioned and/or formal.

    ...I]
    Also figurative: 'That sort of behaviour cannot be borne.'

    b

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    Default Re: bear / to be borne

    Quote Originally Posted by fivejedjon View Post
    In the sense of 'come into the world', we use only 'be born'.

    I was born in 1946.
    5jj is correct of course but note, puzzle, that it's

    I have borne one daughter.

    not

    I have born one daughter.

    In the active voice, we use "borne" even when we are talking about childbirth.

    PS: Remember, however, that we'd usually say

    I have given birth to one daughter.


    nowadays.
    5jj likes this.

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