Grammar

Question

Is the following sentence correct? If so what is the tense of the verb. May I have detailed explanation of the grammatical correctness of the sentence?

" Congratulations to Mr.John on having been conferred Honorary Doctorate by the university."

Avangi · Accepted Answer

My dictionary doesn't list this meaning, but I'm quite sure I've heard it.

The question is, does one confer the title or the degree or the person? My dictionary only allows the degree and the title.

If we substitute another transitive verb, "to name," the usage is clear, as we name the person.

The university named / designated Mr. John Honorary Doctor of X.

Congratulations to Mr. John on having been named Honorary Doctor of X by the university.

This structure is a non-finite "verbal," meaning it doesn't have a tense. As object of the preposition "on," it's considered a gerund. It's in "passive voice," and somewhat resembles "present perfect tense."

Perhaps another dictionary will list this usage, in which the man is confirmed instead of the degree/title. I'll poke around.

Is this a British usage, by the way?

Best regards, - A.

Edit. Merriam Webster Unabridged Online gives a second transitive meaning as "to give somebody something," but they don't give an example.

Anyway, I guess we're in business.

Still, this is the degree, not the title. So it seems to me it needs an article.

. . . on having been conferred/given an Honorary Doctorate by the university.

Hopefully one of our British scholars will show up soon!

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