Word order in passive sentences with adverbs of time

Status
Not open for further replies.

Jennifer 49

New member
Joined
Jun 22, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
When the by-agent is included in a passive sentence, and there is an adverb of time, is there a strict rule for the word order of the adverb of time? I.e.must the adverb of time come at the very end of the sentence (as long as it isn't at the beginning of the sentence)? Or can the position of the by-agent and the adverb of time be switched with no effect on the grammatical correctness of the sentence?

Here are example sentences:

a) The streets are cleaned by city workers every night.
b) The streets are cleaned every night by city workers.


Or should the adverb of time be placed at the beginning of the sentence to avoid the problem of "competing" with the by-agent entirely?

Thanks for your help.
 

Nightmare85

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
German
Home Country
Germany
Current Location
Germany
**Neither a teacher nor a native speaker.**

Hello :)

My personal opinion:
a) The streets are cleaned by city workers every night. :up:
b) The streets are cleaned every night by city workers
. :down:

Furthermore, I'm thinking if it wouldn't be better to replace are by get.
The streets get cleaned...

I hope we will get a confirmation by some other members/teachers ;-)

Cheers!
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
a) The streets are cleaned by city workers every night.
b) The streets are cleaned every night by city workers.

Both sentences are correct and grammatical and mean the same.

There is also:

c) Every night the streets are cleaned by city workers.

(Avoid get cleaned.)

Rover
 

Nightmare85

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
German
Home Country
Germany
Current Location
Germany
Just an addition.
By using the :down: I did not want to say number to was wrong ;-)

Yes, Jennifer has already mentioned your c) sentence.

Cheers!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top