[Grammar] Which of the following two sentences is right ?

Status
Not open for further replies.

SUJANLONDON

Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2014
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
Which of the following two sentences is right ?
"It can't be happened".
"It can't happen".
 

Matthew Wai

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2013
Member Type
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
The second one.

Not a teacher.
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
SUJANLONDON, please note that a better title would have been It can't be happened/It can't happen.

Extract from the Posting Guidelines:

'Thread titles should include all or part of the word/phrase being discussed.'
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
"To happen" is a regular verb. We do not use "to be happen" so your first sentence is not possible.

It happens.
It happens regularly.
It doesn't happen.
It can't happen.

"To be happening" means that something is in progress.

This atrocity is happening.
This atrocity was happening ...
This atrocity has been happening ...
This atrocity had been happening ...
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
It must have happened. It must not have happened.

It could have happened. It couldn't have happened.
 

MikeNewYork

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
There is a difference between "happen" and "cause".
 

SUJANLONDON

Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2014
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Hindi
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
How we can translate the first sentence into passive voice?
 

MikeNewYork

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
You can't. Only transitive verbs can exist in the passive voice.
 

tzfujimino

Key Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2007
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
Hello.:-D
I agree with Mike.

I think what Matthew was trying to say (in post #6) was:

"X happened due to Y."
= "Y caused X."
= "X was caused by Y."

I also agree with Matthew on this.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top