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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Be finished reading
Hello,
I happend to see the following sentence, whose strucutre I didn't quite understand.
This book must be finished reading by tomorrow.
1. Is the "be finished" part the passive voice or the perfect tense?
2. If "be finished" is the passive voice, I thought the correct sentence should be:
Reading this book must be finished by tomorrow.
3. If "be finished" is the perfect tense, I though the correct sentence should be:
I must be finished reading this book by tomorrow.
4. Meanwhile, the following sentence, for instance, is correct, isn't it?
The house needs repairing.
Can "be finished" use a gerund in a similar way as "this book must be finished reading by tomorrow"?
Thank you in advance!
I happend to see the following sentence, whose strucutre I didn't quite understand.
This book must be finished reading by tomorrow.
1. Is the "be finished" part the passive voice or the perfect tense?
2. If "be finished" is the passive voice, I thought the correct sentence should be:
Reading this book must be finished by tomorrow.
3. If "be finished" is the perfect tense, I though the correct sentence should be:
I must be finished reading this book by tomorrow.
4. Meanwhile, the following sentence, for instance, is correct, isn't it?
The house needs repairing.
Can "be finished" use a gerund in a similar way as "this book must be finished reading by tomorrow"?
Thank you in advance!
Top answer
Anonymous This book must be finished reading by tomorrow. These are not grammatical. Anonymous I must be finished reading this book by tomorrow.
- Anonymous This book must be finished reading by tomorrow.
- These are not grammatical.
- Anonymous I must be finished reading this book by tomorrow.
- The house needs repairing.
- These are correct.
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4 Answers
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AnonymousThis book must be finished reading by tomorrow.
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Reading this book must be finished by tomorrow.These are not grammatical.AnonymousI must be finished reading this book by tomorrow.These are correct.
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The house needs repairing.
CJ
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CalifJimThank you, CJ!! But can I ask one more? Why is "reading this book must be finished by tomorrow" not grammatical? Would you explain why? According to my understanding,AnonymousThis book must be finished reading by tomorrow.These are not grammatical.
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Reading this book must be finished by tomorrow.
CJ
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You can't always transform an active sentence into a passive sentence when the "object" is a clause (contains a verb). reading is the verb in your example.
With a noun object, it's easy:
John threw the ball.
The ball was thrown by John.
But with a clause "object", it doesn't work.
Susan can start preparing lunch no
With a noun object, it's easy:
John threw the ball.
The ball was thrown by John.
But with a clause "object", it doesn't work.
Susan can start preparing lunch no
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Hi, CJ. Thank you for the detailed clarification. I appreciated it!
MI as anonymous (two days ago, I tried to create my account to identify myself, but I haven't received any notification yet...)
MI as anonymous (two days ago, I tried to create my account to identify myself, but I haven't received any notification yet...)
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