english grammer

Question

"Horse was left independent"Is the above sentence grammatically correct ????

Richard_s · Accepted Answer

This sentence has the minimum components of a clause (subject, verb, complement), but it doesn't make sense.

Firstly, which horse are you talking about? We need more information - the horse? a horse? my horse?

Secondly, leave and independent don't collocate very well together - it is not clear what they mean together. Perhaps independent is the wrong word? Did you mean alone? This would make sense. Independent is an adjective. Generally adjectives can only be complement to the verb to be and a few other related verbs such as become, appear, and seem.

Lastly, the process (verb) in this clause is in passive voice. Mostly verbs in passive voice cannot have complements. We move the complement to the subject position to form passive voice.

For example:

I shut the door (active voice)

The door was shut (passive voice). - it is not possible to have a complement to was shut.

(The only exception to the above rule is with some verbs that can have two objects (e.g. to give: I gave her the book --> She was given the book.))

You have have a verb in passive voice (was left) and a complement (independent). This just doesn't make sense.

english grammer

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