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  #1  
Old 02-Aug-2007, 14:07
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Default passive queries again

How do we form the passive of " She doesn't resemble her mother"?
Similarly:
The rocket blasted off at 3.30 in the afternoon.
Even though the sentence appears to be passive in meaning, why don't we say "The rocket was blasted off at 3.30 in the afternoon"?
Similarly:
Mr X catapulted to great fame after the publication of his devastating novel entitled...
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Old 02-Aug-2007, 15:58
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Default Re: passive queries again

Some verbs don't take the passive very well.

The first one can't really take it. You can make a cleft: It was her mother whom she resembled.

The second one needs to change the verb - a thing blasts off itself. Perhaps "blasts off" is ergative? However, someone else can "launch it." The rocket was launched at 3:30.

If you really hold the novel responsible for this leap to fame, you can say "Mr. X was catapulted to great fame after..."
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