graduate from or was graduated from

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bmo

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Simple question again.

I graduated from Yale in 1930, and I was graduated from yale in 1930. Are both correct?

Thanks.

BMO
 

Tdol

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I don't like the passive version. It certainly doesn't work in BE. It sounds as if you were forced to do it; you could say 'I was expelled..." ;-)
 

Casiopea

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bmo said:
Simple question again.

I graduated from Yale in 1930, and I was graduated from yale in 1930. Are both correct?

Thanks.

BMO

Since the verb 'graduate' is intransitive it doesn't take the passive form; So, "I was graduated" is incorrect.

All the best,
 

RonBee

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bmo said:
Simple question again.

I graduated from Yale in 1930, and I was graduated from yale in 1930. Are both correct?

Thanks.

BMO

You graduated from Yale in 1930? That would make you nearly a hundred years old.

:wink:
 

bmo

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RonBee said:
You graduated from Yale in 1930? That would make you nearly a hundred years old.

:wink:

Nope, Virginia Tech, 1966. I swear I have learned it somewhere you don't graduate yourself, the school graduates you, giving you a diploma, hence, it is a passive form. It is time that I clean out these "backlogs." Thanks a bunch. BMO
 

RonBee

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From:
http://www.bartleby.com/61/46/G0214600.html

graduate

INTRANSITIVE VERB: 1. To be granted an academic degree or diploma: Two thirds of the entering freshmen stayed to graduate.

TRANSITIVE VERB: 1a. To grant an academic degree or diploma to: The teachers hope to graduate her this spring. b. Usage Problem To receive an academic degree from.

USAGE NOTE: The verb graduate has denoted the action of conferring an academic degree or diploma since at least 1421. Accordingly, the action of receiving a degree should be expressed in the passive, as in She was graduated from Yale in 1998. This use is still current, if old-fashioned, and is acceptable to 78 percent of the Usage Panel. In general usage, however, it has largely yielded to the much more recent active pattern (first attested in 1807): She graduated from Yale in 1998. Eighty-nine percent of the Panel accepts this use. It has the advantage of ascribing the accomplishment to the student, rather than to the institution, which is usually appropriate in discussions of individual students. When the institution's responsibility is emphasized, however, the older pattern may still be recommended. A sentence such as The university graduated more computer science majors in 1997 than in the entire previous decade stresses the university's accomplishment, say, of its computer science program. On the other hand, the sentence More computer science majors graduated in 1997 than in the entire previous decade implies that the class of 1997 was in some way a remarkable group. •The Usage Panel feels quite differently about the use of graduate to mean “to receive a degree from,” as in She graduated Yale in 1998. Seventy-seven percent object to this usage.

(See: http://www.bartleby.com/61/46/G0214600.html)

So, BMO, you are right. And so is Cas.

:wink:
 

RonBee

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Cassie was a really smart lass.
She graduated at the head of her class.

:)
 

bmo

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RonBee said:
Cassie was a really smart lass.
She graduated at the head of her class.

:)

And she was head and shoulders above others. Aha, I must have learnt the old-fashioned way when I was a "kid" long time ago, in Taiwan. Thank you all.

BMO
 

RonBee

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bmo said:
RonBee said:
Cassie was a really smart lass.
She graduated at the head of her class.

:)

And she was head and shoulders above others. Aha, I must have learnt the old-fashioned way when I was a "kid" long time ago, in Taiwan. Thank you all.

BMO

Actually, you are not doing badly. You made an interesting point about graduate. As for Casiopea, while she is near-perfect, she is not right all of the time.

:wink:
 

RonBee

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Casiopea said:
:D "78 percent of the Usage Panel" graduated in 1930. :D

They must be getting on in years.

:wink:
 

RonBee

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bmo said:
RonBee said:
Casiopea said:
:D "78 percent of the Usage Panel" graduated in 1930. :D

They must be getting on in years.

:wink:

What is getting on in years?

It's not a what; it's a who. If 78% of the usage panel graduated in 1930 they must be in their nineties now. ("getting on in years" = "getting old")

:)
 
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