change into passive

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nado92

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[FONT=&quot]I saw myself in the mirror.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]- He is a doctor.

[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]- We sleep in our beds.[/FONT]


change into passive,please
 

mmasny

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You can't change the last two into the passive voice. Do you know why?
The first one would look like this:
I was seen in the mirror by myself. It's correct in a perverted sense. No one would ever say that.
 

nado92

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corum

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You can't change the last two into the passive voice. Do you know why?

I guess you were thinking passivization is a leftward movement in which the (in)direct object is topicalised. You are correct, IMO. What Ray provided is not the passivized form of the original sentence, but a passive construction where the same referents assume the corresponding theta roles.
 

corum

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If what I say holds water, the question rightfully arises: What is the active equivalent of Ray's sentence. :)
Passivization means the patient (not necessarily the (in)direct object), the undergoer of the action, becomes the subject. It is 'our bed' in the sentence. --> What I originally said does not hold water.
 

nado92

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Our beds are slept in by us.
Why?

Thanks.
so one of them will be '
Our beds are slept in by us."

what about the others?

 

bhaisahab

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Thanks.
so one of them will be '
Our beds are slept in by us."

what about the others?

As mmasny has said the first one would be "I was seen in the mirror by myself" but no one would ever say that. The second is impossible.
 

mmasny

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I guess you were thinking passivization is a leftward movement in which the (in)direct object is topicalised.
Yes, I thought so.
You are correct, IMO. What Ray provided is not the passivized form of the original sentence, but a passive construction where the same referents assume the corresponding theta roles.

If what I say holds water, the question rightfully arises: What is the active equivalent of Ray's sentence. :)
I think it's (We) (sleep in) (our beds). I don't know if it's a correct sentence even (to talk about it we have to accept the "fact" that sentences are not unambiguously given be their form). Normally, it's (We) (sleep) (in our beds).
Passivization means the patient (not necessarily the (in)direct object), the undergoer of the action, becomes the subject. It is 'our bed' in the sentence. --> What I originally said does not hold water.
M
 
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