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Thread: to or to be?

  1. #1
    KSSEEJ is offline Junior Member
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    Default to or to be?

    "Forcedly entering a suspected unit with warrant for inspection is a right way, but enforcement actions are difficult to be implemented given the enormous amount of aging building in Hong Kong....."

    Any thing wrong in the underlined materials??

    Some one told me it should be changed to " to implement" but I don't get it. To my knowledge, actions are not the "doer" of the verb "implement" so there is no reason to use active voice...

    Could anyone kindly explain?
    TheParser likes this.

  2. #2
    BobK's Avatar
    BobK is online now Harmless drudge
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    Default Re: to or to be?

    Not all verbs are either active or passive. This has been discussed several times before, in this forum and elsewhere. Search for 'medio-passive'.

    (Incidentally, the person who told you to change it was right - but some things are hard to explain (note: not hard to be explained.)

    b

  3. #3
    TheParser is offline Key Member
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    Default Re: to or to be?

    CAUTION: NOT A TEACHER

    Would the following rewrite be helpful?

    Forcibly entering a suspected unit with a warrant for inspection is the right way,

    but it is difficult to implement enforcement proceedings given the enormous number of old

    buildings in Hong Kong.
    Winwin2011 and KSSEEJ like this.

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