I listened to a funny joke told by Tom.

[Alice Chu]

Hello.
Could you please tell me if the pattern below is correct?

1. listen to + object + past participle (with a passive meaning)
1) I listened to a funny joke told by Tom.

 

[emsr2d2]

The passive is very unnatural there.

I listened to Tom tell a funny joke. (Note that this sounds as if he was telling it to other people and you were just listening in.)
Tom told me a funny joke. (Tom was specifically speaking to you.)

It's really only necessary to specify that the joke was funny if the listener might think that the opposite is more likely. You can just use "tell a joke" otherwise. We'll assume it was funny.

 

[Tarheel]

Both the joke teller and the listener always hope the joke will be funny.

 

[tedmc]

Hello.
Could you please tell me if the pattern below is correct?

1. listen to + object + past participle (with a passive meaning)
1) I listened to a funny joke told by Tom.

Is that an exercise to change active voice to passive voice? If not, we don't normally use the passive form unless there is a reason to.

 

[Phaedrus]

Could you please tell me if the pattern below is correct?

1. listen to + object + past participle (with a passive meaning)
1) I listened to a funny joke told by Tom.

I don't understand (1) as being related to I listened to Tom tell a funny joke.

I read (1) as being equivalent to I listened to a funny joke (that is/was) told by Tom/I listened to a funny joke that Tom tells/told.

For the passive of I listened to Tom tell a funny joke, you need a passive auxiliary: I listened to a funny joke be/get told by Tom.

That sounds really awkward to me; however, it is possible to think of examples that sound tolerable:

He listened to the new president get sworn in.
You can listen to the word be pronounced.

 

[PaulMatthews]

Hello.
Could you please tell me if the pattern below is correct?

1. listen to + object + past participle (with a passive meaning)
1) I listened to a funny joke told by Tom.

I listened to [a funny joke told by Tom].

Yes: the underlined expression is a past participial clause functioning as a modifier in noun phrase structure.

It is semantically similar to a relative clause, cf. a funny joke that was told by Tom.

Past participials as modifiers in noun phrase structure are analysed as bare passives by virtue of the admissibility of a by phrase.

 

[Phaedrus]

It is semantically similar to a relative clause, cf. a funny joke that was told by Tom.

That is my interpretation, too (see Post #5).

Unfortunately, the OP seems to have intended I listened to a funny joke told by Tom to be interpreted as the passive of I listened to Tom tell a funny joke.

 

[emsr2d2]

That is my interpretation, too (see Post #5).

Unfortunately, the OP seems to have intended I listened to a funny joke told by Tom to be interpreted as the passive of I listened to Tom tell a funny joke.

If that's the case, AliceChu, you need to know that the (extremely unnatural) passive of "I listened to Tom tell a funny joke" is "A funny joke told by Tom was listened to by me". Please don't ever use that construction in real life!

 

[Phaedrus]

If that's the case, AliceChu, you need to know that the (extremely unnatural) passive of "I listened to Tom tell a funny joke" is "A funny joke told by Tom was listened to by me". Please don't ever use that construction in real life!

What I meant, technically, was that the OP seems to have intended the phrasal complement of "listened" ("a funny joke told by Tom") to be interpreted as the passive of what would be the active correlate of that phrasal complement: "Tom tell a funny joke" ("I listened to [Tom tell a funny joke]").

As I understand Alice Chu's question here, which is similar to two or three other threads that she has started in the last day, "listened to" is not the verb to be passivized, and "I" (the sentence subject) is outside the scope of the phrase to be passivized.

She needs an auxiliary: "be" or "get" (see Post #5).

 

[Tarheel]

I would say:

Tom told a funny joke.

The following is a made up dialogue.

Ron: Tom told a funny joke.
Liz: Who is Tom?
Ron: He's the guy who told the funny joke.
Liz: Very funny!
Ron: Do you want to hear it?
Liz: Yes. Tell me the joke.
Ron: OK. A gorilla goes into a bar and orders a beer. The bartender charges him $10 for a beer. After a bit the bartender says, "We don't get many gorillas in here." The gorilla says, "It's no wonder with what you charge for beer."