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Debpriya De Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Give birth to
"Samantha gave birth to Ricky."
Can this sentence be written in passive as "Ricky was given birth to by Samantha."
Can this sentence be written in passive as "Ricky was given birth to by Samantha."
Top answer
The passive form is possible, although "Ricky was given birth to by Samantha" does not sound very natural to me. You need to take the context into account, and think about why you want to use the passive form. Consider this sentence: " Unlike in the West, where modern environmentalism was given birth to by scientists, in India it began through the protests of rural communities.
- The passive form is possible, although "Ricky was given birth to by Samantha" does not sound very natural to me.
- You need to take the context into account, and think about why you want to use the passive form.
- Consider this sentence: " Unlike in the West, where modern environmentalism was given birth to by scientists, in India it began through the protests of rural communities.
- " The focus is on 'modern environmentalism', so it seems appropriate to make it the subject of the clause "modern environmentalism was given birth to by scientists".
- Incidentally, if you search for "was given birth to by" on Google, you will find this form is often used to talk about the birth of movements, ideas etc.
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2 Answers
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The passive form is possible, although "Ricky was given birth to by Samantha" does not sound very natural to me. You need to take the context into account, and think about why you want to use the passive form.
Consider this sentence:
"Unlike in the West, where modern environmentalism was given birth to by scientists, in India it began through the protests of rural communities.
Consider this sentence:
"Unlike in the West, where modern environmentalism was given birth to by scientists, in India it began through the protests of rural communities.
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I don't know if we should look at the phrase "to give birth" as a verb. Maybe it is like this:
"Samantha" is the subject.
"Gave" is the verb.
"Birth" is the object.
The passive would be
Birth was given to Ricky.
But that is not a natural sentence at all.
The entire use of verbs about being born is a little strange.
He was born (by his mother
"Samantha" is the subject.
"Gave" is the verb.
"Birth" is the object.
The passive would be
Birth was given to Ricky.
But that is not a natural sentence at all.
The entire use of verbs about being born is a little strange.
He was born (by his mother
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