[Grammar] Put Through

[StarStrikes]

"He was put through a firing squad execution."
"He was put through a firing squad."

"He came through a firing squad execution."
"He came through a firing squad."

Could some be nonstandard English?

 

[5jj]

None of them is natural English.

He was executed by firing squad.

 

[StarStrikes]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pueblo_%28AGER-2%29

"Commander Lloyd M. Bucher was psychologically tortured, such as being put through a mock firing squad in an effort to make him confess. Eventually the Koreans threatened to execute his men in front of him, and Bucher relented and agreed to 'confess to his and the crew's transgression.' "

So, it is a mistake here?

 

[5jj]

So, it is a mistake here?

No, it isn't.

In that context, Bucher was put through, forced to suffer/undergo a mock firing squad. This is not the same as actually being shot.

Don't try to infer general rules from one specific example.

 

[StarStrikes]

Then, a mock firing squad is the activity of being given a scare by a group of gunmen, and a firing squad is the group of gunmen?

 

[5jj]

Dictionary - Yahoo! Education
mock adjective - definition in British English Dictionary & Thesaurus - Cambridge Dictionary Online

 

[StarStrikes]

I understand that mock = fake, and that to put sb through sth = to make sb experience sth. I agree with "put sb through a mock execution", because execution is an activity. But I don't understand how one could be "put through a mock firing squad", since a (mock) firing squad is a group of people. How does one experience a group of people?

 

[charliedeut]

Hi,

One experiences the feeling of being executed. This is, of course, an unreal feeling, since the firing sqaud is just a mock one.

Greetings,

charliedeut

 

[emsr2d2]

I understand that mock = fake, and that to put sb through sth = to make sb experience sth. I agree with "put sb through a mock execution", because execution is an activity. But I don't understand how one could be "put through a mock firing squad", since a (mock) firing squad is a group of people. How does one experience a group of people?

You don't just experience the group of people. What you experience is whatever it is that that group of people has been put together to do.


For example, I used to work for the Civil Service. If you wanted to apply for promotion, you had to submit a paper application and then, if that was successful, you were invited to be interviewed by three senior civil servants. Those people, collectively, were referred to as "the interview board" or "the board". It was a fairly challenging, if not terrifying, interview and a lot of people were very nervous about the prospect. Consequently, some members of staff who had experience in these matters used to offer a service to people who were going to face the interview board - they would offer to do a "mock interview board" for them. It was basically a fake interview so that the person could practice what they might say and get used to the feeling of facing three people questioning them.

The person applying for promotion would say, for example "I've got my real board on June 27th. I'm not looking forward to it, but some of my colleagues have offered to help me in advance. On June 24th, I'm going to go through a mock board."

We use the nouns "the firing squad" or "the board" not just to mean the group of people but to refer to the entire experience that they represent which, in both those cases, is something not at all pleasant!

 

[5jj]

So, if I was interviewed by a manager for a job, and the experience was terrible, I could write:

"I was put through the manager".?

No you couldn't.

Some collective nouns can be used of both the group of people and the activity associated with that group. In the context of the civil service, in which one is 'boarded' (interviewed by a board) for promotion, then the noun 'board' is one of those words. In the context of one type of execution, then 'firing squad' is another. I recommend that you do not use 'go through' or 'be put through' in the sense of 'undergo', a group of people unless you know for certain that the name for the group is used in this way.