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Minhuoc Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

had been blown out.

0I don't understand why don't people use sentence (1) instead of sentence (2). How different are they? Thanks.02br
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001. All the shop's windows01b00 had been blown out02b00 by the gas explosion.02br
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002. All the shops01b00 had their windows blown out02b00 by the gas explosion.0-
  

Top answer

0 In #1, the verb is in the passive voice, the past perfect tense. In the active voice, it would be 01font 00The gas explosion had blown out all the shop's windows. 02font 02br 02br 00In #2, 01font 00had02font 00 is the (whole) verb and 01font 00blown out02font 00 is a past participle used as an adjective.

— Rvw

  • 0 In #1, the verb is in the passive voice, the past perfect tense.
  • In the active voice, it would be 01font 00The gas explosion had blown out all the shop's windows.
  • 02font 02br 02br 00In #2, 01font 00had02font 00 is the (whole) verb and 01font 00blown out02font 00 is a past participle used as an adjective.
  • They are part of a construction called an objective complement.
  • 02br 02br 00The reason #2 is wrong is that one doesn't have their windows blown out as one would have their teeth drilled or their car serviced.
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8 Answers
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0 In #1, the verb is in the passive voice, the past perfect tense. In the active voice, it would be 01font00The gas explosion had blown out all the shop's windows. 01font00Blown out02font00 is a phrasal verb; 01font00had been blown out02font00 is a verb with auxiliaries.02f
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0 And this is a minor point, possibly resulting from a typing error, but in your first sentence, it was one shop, and in the second, it was all the shops. 0-
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0Hi,02br
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00Interesting. I don't see #2 as wrong at all. In fact, I see it as the more common and the more desirable of the two.02br
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00I would say both 01font00'He had his car fixed02font00' and 01font00'He had his leg blown off'02font00. Michael Swann addres
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0Yes; I would see it as a difference in focus. To my mind:02br
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001. This focuses on either the empty window frames or the broken glass; the perspective is "after the event".02br
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002. This focuses on the shops as a whole, with empty frames; the perspective can be either "after the event" or "during the event".02br
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00(The s
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0 I concede the point, Clive. 01i00Dictionary.com 02i00also has for 01font00have02font00: 01font00to be subject to the experience of02font01i01font00.02font00 02i00 But doesn't it sound a bit dialectal?02br
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0Hi rvw,02br
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00Doesn't the grammar for that call for "01font00Dadgum, he had his leg 01b00blew 02b00plumb off!"02font02br
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00Clive02br
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0 It's regional.0-
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I agree with you......but not completely......the first sentence sounds more correct  to me as the second one sounds like the shops wanted the explosion to blow their windows....do you get my point?
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