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Deborahjeong Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

Having broken down

1. With the TV set having broken down, I listened to the program on the radio instead.2. With the TV set having been broken down, I listened to the program on the radio instead.3. With the TV set being broken down, I listened to the program on the radio instead.4. With the TV set broken down, I listened to the program on the radio instead.
Which one of these is correct? I think 2, 3, & 4 are all correct except for 1. Could you help me clarify it? Thanks.
  

Top answer

We don't say a tv set breaks down , we say it stops working. All 4 sentences are very unnatural, although only #2 seems utterly wrong to me. They are the strange kind of English that exists mainly in text books.

— Clive

  • We don't say a tv set breaks down , we say it stops working.
  • All 4 sentences are very unnatural, although only #2 seems utterly wrong to me.
  • They are the strange kind of English that exists mainly in text books.
  • Natural English is this.
  • eg Because the TV was not working, I listened to the radio instead.
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2 Answers
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We don't say a tv set breaks down, we say it stops working.

All 4 sentences are very unnatural, although only #2 seems utterly wrong to me. They are the strange kind of English that exists mainly in text books.

Natural English is this.

eg Because the TV was not working, I listened to the radio instead.

eg The TV was not working, so I listened to

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deborahjeong2. With the TV set having been broken down,

When we break something down, we disassemble it. That is, if we break a TV down, it becomes a pile of component parts.

With the TV set having been completely broken down, we wrapped the parts and sent them back to the manufacturer.

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