10 Sentences (2)

[Atchan]

Please fix these sentences as possible.

Present Perfect Tense
A thieve has escaped from a jail, and policemen have still looked about him.
Passive Tense (Present Perfect Tense)
A jail has been escaped from by a thieve, and policemen have still looked about him.

Present continuous Perfect Tense
My mother has been hearing the baby cry, since it born.
Passive Tense (Present continuous Perfect Tense)
A baby cry has been hearing by my mother, since it born.

Past Perfect Tense
After we had eaten the dinner, my mam was ladling out soup for us.
Passive Tense (Past Perfect Tense)
After the dinner had been eaten by us, my mam was ladling out soup for us.

Past Continuous Perfect Tense
When my friend was a fat, he had been jogging around the track.
Passive Tense (Past Continuous Perfect Tense)
When my friend was a fat, the track had been jogged around by him.

Future Continuous Tense
By the time the ski rain, one room of our room’s roof will be leaking.
Passive Tense (Future Continuous Tense)
By the time the ski is rained, one room of our room’s roof will be leaking.

 

[Atchan]

Where are you teachers....

 

[~Mav~]

*** NEITHER A NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER (and it hurts ), NOR A TEACHER ***

Present Perfect Tense
A thieve has escaped from a jail, and policemen have still looked about him.
Passive Tense (Present Perfect Tense)

a) Thieve is a verb, it means "to steal". Those who commit theft are thieves, one of them is a thief. (Thief = singular, thieves = plural, to thieve = to steal)

b) A thief has escaped from a jail, and policemen (or the police) are still chasing him.

A jail has been escaped from by a thieve, and policemen have still looked about him.

This doesn't make sense. I know what you wanted to say, but you had better stick to the previous version. (Alternatively you can say: An escaped criminal has been chased by the police since this morning.)

My mother has been hearing the baby cry, since it born.

...(ever) since s/he was born. (Given that you wrote "my mother", I assume you know the gender of the baby. ;-) )
//Though this sentence seems to be grammatically correct, I find it kind of awkward. :-?

A baby cry has been hearing by my mother, since it born.

"...has been heard..", but I wouldn't push the passive here. ;-)

After we had eaten the dinner, my mam (mum, mummy) was ladling out soup for us.

This is a grammatically correct sentence (as much as I can judge it), but "after" makes the use of Past Perfect unnecessary, and I wouldn't use "ladling", because I presume it didn't take hours. :lol: (Though I might be wrong, of course.)

After the dinner had been eaten by us...

Oh no! But there could be an even worse sentence: After the dinner had been being eaten... :mrgreen:

When my friend was a fat, he had been jogging around the track.

When my friend was fat, he used to jog around the track in order to lose weight. Do not want to use the Past Perfect, because your friend's habit of jogging doesn't seem to precede his state of fatness, especially according to "when" with which you introduced this sentence.

When my friend was a fat, the track had been jogged around by him.

Do yourself a favour, and forget this! ;-)

By the time the ski rain, one room of our room’s roof will be leaking.
Passive Tense (Future Continuous Tense)
By the time the ski is rained, one room of our room’s roof will be leaking.

:shock: :shock: Sowwie, I didn't get it. :-|



I hope I could help you a little and didn't write rubbish.

 

[TheParser]

Please fix these sentences as possible.

Present Perfect Tense
A thieve has escaped from a jail, and policemen have still looked about him.
Passive Tense (Present Perfect Tense)
A jail has been escaped from by a thieve, and policemen have still looked about him.

Present continuous Perfect Tense
My mother has been hearing the baby cry, since it born.
Passive Tense (Present continuous Perfect Tense)
A baby cry has been hearing by my mother, since it born.

Past Perfect Tense
After we had eaten the dinner, my mam was ladling out soup for us.
Passive Tense (Past Perfect Tense)
After the dinner had been eaten by us, my mam was ladling out soup for us.

Past Continuous Perfect Tense
When my friend was a fat, he had been jogging around the track.
Passive Tense (Past Continuous Perfect Tense)
When my friend was a fat, the track had been jogged around by him.

Future Continuous Tense
By the time the ski rain, one room of our room’s roof will be leaking.
Passive Tense (Future Continuous Tense)
By the time the ski is rained, one room of our room’s roof will be leaking.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Good afternoon, Atchan.

(1) I have discovered that people will get more and faster answers if they post only one question at a time.

(2) I have read all your sentences, and I believe that there is one basic problem: many of them CANNOT be changed to the passive.

(a) Basically, you usually need an object if you wish to change a sentence to the passive:

I study English. "English" is the object. So: English is studied by me.

*****

Let's look at your first sentence:

A thief has escaped from jail, and the police are looking for him.

(a) A thief + has escaped + NO OBJECT. Therefore, the passive is not possible.

(i) A thief has stolen my money. "My money" is the object. So: My money has been stolen by a thief.

*****

My mother has been hearing the crying baby.

(a) Yes, there IS an object (the crying baby).

(b) Yes, the passive IS possible:

The crying baby has been being heard by my mother.

BUT!!!!!!

This passive is only good for practicing English. Native speakers never use it because it sounds too strange.

*****

Your third sentence is not clear:

I. We ate dinner.
2. Then Mother ladled out soup.
3. Mother ladled out soup after we had eaten dinner? I do not understand. Why did Mother give us soup AFTER dinner? Is that a custom in some countries? In the U.S.A., we START dinner with a soup and end it with a dessert.

But your passive is 100% correct: After dinner had been eaten by us, ...

*****

Do you mean:

Because he was fat, my friend had been jogging around the track.

In any case, "around the track" is not an object, so it cannot be changed to the passive.

*****

When the rain starts, the roof on one of our rooms will be leaking water.

(a) Yes, there's an object ("water").

(b) Yes, the books say that it is "good" English to say:

Water will be being leaked

BUT!!!!

Native speakers almost NEVER use this. It sounds "strange."

Remember: native speakers almost never use the passive in the future progressive and in the perfect progressives.

You have done a very good job. Keep studying hard, and you will soon be speaking very good English.

Have a nice day!

 

[Atchan]

first of all thank you, secondly, Do you mean that some of my sentences don't need "Passive Tense".

Originally Posted by atchan
After the dinner had been eaten by us...

Oh no! But there could be an even worse sentence: After the dinner had been being eaten...

Originally Posted by atchan
By the time the ski rain, one room of our room’s roof will be leaking.
Passive Tense (Future Continuous Tense)
By the time the ski is rained, one room of our room’s roof will be leaking.

Sowwie, I didn't get it.

 

[Atchan]

One question..

If there isn't an object in a sentence, that means it will not be changed to Passive Tense?

 

[TheParser]

One question..

If there isn't an object in a sentence, that means it will be changed to Passive Tense?

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello again.

If there is no object, that USUALLY means that it CANNOT be changed to the passive.

Of course, every language has exceptions:

Everybody laughed at him.

Everybody + laughed + NO OBJECT

BUT!!!!

You CAN change this to the passive:

He was laughed at (by everyone).

*****

For learners, however, it is better to remember the rule:

You USUALLY need an object if you want to change it to the passive. If

there is NO object, do NOT try to change it to the passive.

Don't worry!

Keep studying and keep on asking questions. Soon you will understand.

Have a nice day!

 

[Atchan]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello again.

If there is no object, that USUALLY means that it CANNOT be changed to the passive.

Of course, every language has exceptions:

Everybody laughed at him.

Everybody + laughed + NO OBJECT

BUT!!!!

You CAN change this to the passive:

He was laughed at (by everyone).

*****

For learners, however, it is better to remember the rule:

You USUALLY need an object if you want to change it to the passive. If

there is NO object, do NOT try to change it to the passive.

Don't worry!

Keep studying and keep on asking questions. Soon you will understand.

Have a nice day!

Good advises, I will keep on.
Thank you so much, you are helpful.

 

[Nightmare85]

Everybody laughed at him.

Everybody + laughed + NO OBJECT

Hello TheParser,

Why do you think there is no object?
To me "him" looks like an object.
I don't think it's a complement.
Everybody helped him.
Everybody laughed at him.
I like him.
In all these sentences him looks like an object to me.

I believe there is no object here:
I'm not like he. (Most guys would say "him").

P.S. It's only a question, I don't have doubts because, don't worry

Cheers!

 

[TheParser]

Hello TheParser,

Why do you think there is no object?
To me "him" looks like an object.
I don't think it's a complement.
Everybody helped him.
Everybody laughed at him.
I like him.
In all these sentences him looks like an object to me.

I believe there is no object here:
I'm not like he. (Most guys would say "him").

P.S. It's only a question, I don't have doubts because, don't worry



Cheers!

Thanks for your great question. I have to leave now. I'll try to answer tomorrow. Or maybe someone else will answer before I do. Have a nice day!

 

[Atchan]

Hello TheParser,

Why do you think there is no object?
To me "him" looks like an object.
I don't think it's a complement.
Everybody helped him.
Everybody laughed at him.
I like him.
In all these sentences him looks like an object to me.

I believe there is no object here:
I'm not like he. (Most guys would say "him").

P.S. It's only a question, I don't have doubts because, don't worry

Cheers!

If I don't get an object in a sentence, I will not change it to a passive tense.

cheers!

 

[~Mav~]

first of all thank you

You are welcome. I'm glad that you've found my answer useful.

secondly, Do you mean that some of my sentences don't need "Passive Tense".

Exactly! :up: A word to the wise: just because you can do something, doesn't necessarily mean that you should. ;-) This "rule" applies to the grammar as well. :idea: ;-)

 

[Atchan]

Exactly! :up: A word to the wise: just because you can do something, doesn't necessarily mean that you should. ;-) This "rule" applies to the grammar as well. :idea: ;-)[/QUOTE]


Sorry

 

[Atchan]

Exactly! :up: A word to the wise: just because you can do something, doesn't necessarily mean that you should. ;-) This "rule" applies to the grammar as well. :idea: ;-)

I don't understand. What do you mean?

 

[TheParser]

Hello TheParser,

Why do you think there is no object?
To me "him" looks like an object.
I don't think it's a complement.
Everybody helped him.
Everybody laughed at him.
I like him.
In all these sentences him looks like an object to me.

I believe there is no object here:
I'm not like he. (Most guys would say "him").

P.S. It's only a question, I don't have doubts because, don't worry

Cheers!

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

(1) Good morning, Nightmare.

(2) Our friend wanted to change "A thief has escaped FROM JAIL"

to "Jail has been escaped from."

(3) I tried to explain that the object of a preposition cannot be

changed to the subject of a passive sentence. "Jail" is the object of

"from," so it cannot be changed to the passive.

(4) I forgot to explain that you can change only the object of a VERB:

They have built a jail. ("jail" is the object of the verb "have built." So:

A jail has been built.

(5) I then told him there are a few exceptions such as:

They laugh AT HIM. = He was laughed at.

(i) "Him" is the object of the preposition "at."

(ii) But you can still change it to the passive.

(iii) I did not explain why.

(iv) I felt that it was important for our friend to remember: Do NOT try to

change the object of a preposition to the passive. (I then gave him the

"They laugh AT HIM" exception.)

(6) Here is the reason for the exception:

(a) grammar books say that "look at" is really a unit. In other words, it

is like a verb. In this sentence, "at" is NOT a preposition. So the

sentence is:

They (subject) + laugh at (verb) + him (object of a VERB).

Therefore, we CAN change it to: He was LAUGHED AT (by them).

Have a nice day!

 

[Raymott]

(3) I tried to explain that the object of a preposition cannot be changed to the subject of a passive sentence. "Jail" is the object of "from," so it cannot be changed to the passive.

"A 14 year old boy has swum across this lake." ->
"This lake has been swum across by a 14 year old boy."
The sentence seems to work to me.
But "swim across" is not a phrasal verb ('a unit' as you say).

From this, can we postulate that maybe the object of a preposition can be changed to the subject of a passive sentence?

(Note I'm not saying it always can be. The poster's sentence is awful, but it might be awful for another reason).

 

[TheParser]

"A 14 year old boy has swum across this lake." ->
"This lake has been swum across by a 14 year old boy."
The sentence seems to work to me.
But "swim across" is not a phrasal verb ('a unit' as you say).

From this, can we postulate that maybe the object of a preposition can be changed to the subject of a passive sentence?

(Note I'm not saying it always can be. The poster's sentence is awful, but it might be awful for another reason).

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Excellent point, sir.

I was trying (badly) to have him avoid something such as:

Across the lake has been swum a 14-year-old boy.

 

[emsr2d2]

I can understand why teachers give these "Active to passive" exercises, so that students can practice, but what's important when actually speaking or writing in English is whether it's necessary or appropriate to use the passive.

An example:

A pedestrian is walking along the street and is hit by a passing car.

To me, the man is the most important thing in this sentence. He was walking along, minding his own business when BANG, he was run over. In that case, it's appropriate to say:

The man was hit by the car. (Passive)

2nd example:

Dinner is on the table and I enter the room with a group of people, we sit down at the table and eat the meal.

The dinner isn't doing anything important, it's just sitting there. The people are the ones doing the "action". Therefore:

We ate dinner. (Active)

It wouldn't be necessary to say:

The dinner was eaten by us. (Passive)

 

[TheParser]

I don't understand. What do you mean?

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Good morning, Atchan.

(1) "A word to the wise" is a popular expression:

Tom: I'm very angry with George.

Victoria: Why?

Tom: He insulted me. I am going to hit him.

Victoria: A word to the wise: Don't do it.

Tom: Why not?

Victoria: George is much stronger than you. He will "destroy" you with

one punch to your jaw.

Tom: Yeah, you're right. Thanks for the advice.

*****

A word to the wise = I'm going to give some advice. I know that you

are wise (smart). So I am sure that you will follow my advice.

*****

Have a nice day!

 

[Atchan]

Your third sentence is not clear:

I. We ate dinner.
2. Then Mother ladled out soup.
3. Mother ladled out soup after we had eaten dinner? I do not understand. Why did Mother give us soup AFTER dinner? Is that a custom in some countries? In the U.S.A., we START dinner with a soup and end it with a dessert.

Really, its not our custom but we are used that. In our tradition in the dinner, "for example". We start with rice, meat and salad, then soup and end with fruits not desserts as Americans prefer. :-D