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Angliholic Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

Five people were drowned

0Five people were drowned after their boat sank in the ocean during the storm.02br
02br
00Hi,02br
02br
00Is "were" in the above optional or must it be deleted? Thanks.0-
  

Top answer

1i 00Were02i 00 is optional. 02br 00CB 0-

  • 1i 00Were02i 00 is optional.
  • 02br 00CB 0-
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9 Answers
0
1i00Were02i00 is optional. It can be left out.02br
00CB 0-
0
0 I prefer 01b00drowned02b00 or 01b00drowned himself02b00 if there's no criminal agent. 0-
0
0 Five people were drowned after their boat sank in the ocean during the storm.02br
00 I prefer 01b00drowned02b00 or 01b00drowned himself02b00 if there's no criminal agent. 02br
02br
00Drowned himself/themselves makes it sound like they committed suicide. 0-
0
0 In the context of the capsided and sunken boat, 5 people "were" drown" is correct. Without it, it would mean they drown themselves on purpose which means suicide.02br
00The sentence is passive in anture and thus required a "verb to be" for the passive construction. 02br
02br
00A woman was accused of drowning her 3 children in a bath tub. 0-
0
0 I am sure most of these guys didn't commit suicide: 73 on "five people drowned", 05000 0240hrefhttp://books.google.com/books?lr=&q=%22five+people++drowned%22&btnG=Search+Books
0
0 Hi Marius,02br
00I didn't mean to disagree but if one also will use 01b00"5 people were drown",02b00 as a search criterian, there are equally as many entries from the Google search, perhaps even more. 00 0-
0
0 I checked the stats and you're right. 02br
01b00 02b007400 on 01b00"five people were drowned" [and yes, I recognize that most of these didn't commit suicide05002b02br
01b007302b00 on 01b00"five people drowned"02b010id1
0
0 01blockquote
01cite10Marius Hancu12cite10"five people were drowned" [and yes, I recognize that most of these didn't commit suicide12blockquote
10But02br
00"Five people drowned themselves" means that they committed suicide. 0-

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