Missing subject
Hi I have come accross this opening sentence in Wikipedia recently and for some reason I just find the sentence missing something and bit ungrammatical (lack of subject).
"The purchase of officer commissions in the British Army was the practice of paying money to the Army to be made an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officer_(armed_forces) of a cavalry or infantry regiment of the English and later https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Army." Why not `to make someone an officer of...` --> the original passice construction just seem and sound like it is missing a subject to me.
anyone advice?
Top answer
` 'someone' is a weak word for a subject. It's a stylistic choice to use the passive to avoid it. CJ
- ` 'someone' is a weak word for a subject.
- It's a stylistic choice to use the passive to avoid it.
- CJ
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blue aqua 429Why not `to make someone an officer of...`
'someone' is a weak word for a subject. It's a stylistic choice to use the passive to avoid it.
CJ
0Consider the different meaning of each of these two simplified sentences.
Tom paid money to the army to be made an officer.
Tom's father paid money to the army to make Tom an office.
In both scenarios, Tom bcame an officer, but the person who caused this is not the same.
Clive
0
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