0
Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Passive complications

I'm having a problem with identifying some grammar structures in the passive.

In English, you can say 'the prize was given to her', which is a simple case of passive. If I'm not wrong, you can also say 'she was given the prize'. My problem is that I don't know how to parse the second sentence.

Does it have some connection with 'I gave the prize to her' vs 'I gave her the prize'?

This problem arose when I attempted to translate the following sentence into Spanish for my students:

'She should have been given the prize by the judge'.

If translated literally, it reads 'Ella debió de haber sido dado el premio por el juez'. Unfortunately, it turns out that this is more or less senseless babble in Spanish. I was suggested 'Ella debió de haber recibido el premio del parte de juez' which in English would be 'she should have received the prize from the judge', but that is a different structure!

On the other hand, 'the prize should have been given to her by the judge' translates into Spanish with no problem: 'El premio debió de haber sido dado a ella de parte del juez'.

So, my question is not so much about why my first sentence doesn't translate into Spanish, but rather whether it is good, standard English, and how I can analyse it.

Thanks.
  

Top answer

The base sentence is [I / you / ... / someone] gave her the prize. In English you can make either the direct object the subject of the passive The prize was given to her.

  • The base sentence is [I / you / ...
  • / someone] gave her the prize.
  • In English you can make either the direct object the subject of the passive The prize was given to her.
  • (Subject / verb / prep.
  • phrase) or the indirect object the subject of the passive.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

1 Answers
0
The base sentence is

[I / you / ... / someone] gave her the prize.

In English you can make either the direct object the subject of the passive

The prize was given to her. (Subject / verb / prep. phrase)

or the indirect object the subject of the passive.

She was given the prize. (Subject / verb / direct object)

Related Questions