Passive

Status
Not open for further replies.

tranlam1609

Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Vietnamese
Home Country
Vietnam
Current Location
Vietnam
Active: I am cooking dinner with my mother.
Passive: Dinner is being cooked by me and my mother. (Is this sentence Ok?)

Please help me.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
It's OK as an exercise in "active to passive" but it's not a natural sentence that a native speaker would ever need to utter.

I would note though that "Dinner is being cooked by me and my mother" is more likely to be "My mother and I are cooking dinner" in the active.
 

Odessa Dawn

Key Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Arabic
Home Country
Saudi Arabia
Current Location
Saudi Arabia
but it's not a natural sentence that a native speaker would ever need to utter.

How would a native speaker say something like that, please?

 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Mom and I are cooking dinner.
Or as the original read.

The fascination with the passive voice is something most of the native speakers don't understand.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
The fascination with the passive voice is something most of the native speakers don't understand.
That is agreed with by me. ;-)
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
How would a native speaker say something like that, please?


We use the passive for a purpose- where there's no need or point, we stick with the active.​
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
We use the passive for a purpose- where there's no need or point, we stick with the active.
I wonder if our webmaster can fix it so that that message comes up automatically every time someone posts a question about the passive.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
If we could, it would only be a matter of time before someone asked if it's OK to say The active is stuck with by us. ;-)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top