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Pter Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Obama will be sworn in ....

Why is the passive used and is passive tense the only correct way to say that? I know it sounds strange, but is it correct to say "Obama will swear in as president"?
  

Top answer

Hi Pter The passive is used because someone other than Obama will perform the swearing in. com/dictionary/swear+in . Tomorrow the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will swear Barack Obama in .

— Yankee

  • Hi Pter The passive is used because someone other than Obama will perform the swearing in.
  • com/dictionary/swear+in .
  • Tomorrow the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will swear Barack Obama in .
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5 Answers
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Hi Pter

The passive is used because someone other than Obama will perform the swearing in.
The phrasal verb "to swear in" means http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swear+in .
Tomorrow the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will swear Barack Obama in.
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Hi Amy,
Thank you very much for enlightening me. I had the wrong impression that it refers to action by the president-elect, i.e. the oath of office on the bible.
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Hi Pter

To look at it in a very simplified way, you might say that tomorrow Obama will swear as the Chief justice swears him in.

By the way, tomorrow I'm going to be glued to my TV for quite a while.
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I'm not sure we do use "swear" that way, though.
I swore a bunch of kids into the armed forces. They were sworn in, but they didn't swear in.
Oh - I just saw you said "swear," not "swear in." Yes, I agree - he swears, but he's sworn in.
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Thank you very much. It's midnight in Hong Kong and I am recording the life broadcast of the ceremony. Will watch it tomorrow.
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