Turning into passive construction

Question

a. He wanted the doctor to examine his wife. —> The doctor was wanted to examine his wife.

b. He asked the doctor to examine his wife. —> The doctor was asked to examine his wife.

c. He expected the doctor to examine his wife. —> The doctor was expected to examine his wife.

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Hi,

About turning into passive construction…

Is it true that a. is incorrect and b., c. is correct?

How does the a. sound to natives?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Yes, A sounds very wrong.  I don't know why.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

( a) is ok, but not the usual way to express it. ( b) and ( c) are fine.
After all, we have "most wanted" posters and lists. These are the most wanted by the FBI:
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten

Mister Micawber · Answer

It is not just a matter of the passive voice. It is the whole construction that makes it odd. After all, the wanted man is not wanted 'to do' anything; he is wanted 'for something' (murder, mayhem, etc.). Maybe CJ has an idea why 'want' is functioning differently here.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

pructusa. He wanted the doctor to examine his wife. —> The doctor was wanted to examine his wife.

I go with MM, The underlined sounds semantically strange to me too. I think this may be what you are looking for:
He wanted his wife (to be) examined by the doctor.

Pructus · Answer

Thanks a lot, Mister Micawber, AlpheccaStars and dimsumexpress!!

The argument was that…..

a: wanted = Verb,
the doctor to examine his wife. = Object

b: asked = Verb,
the doctor = Indirect Object
to examine his wife. = Direct Object

c: expected = Verb,
the doctor = Object
to examine his wife. = Complement of the Object(=the doctor).

So, in “a”, “the doctor” is not an Object, therefore “The doctor was wanted to examine his wife” is not allowed.

The person who made this argument is also saying that the verbs: advise, ask, beg, command, forbid, invite, order, persuade, remind, request, teach, urge….. are of the same type with “want”.

But, what I find difficult to agree on is how come “the doctor to examine his wife” can be an Object.

I mean, why is it that “the doctor” + “to examine his wife”, itself can be an Object.

Even though I am not an English grammarian, and this seems to be somewhat scholarly thing....

I'd just like to know how the natives think about this kind of argument...

Dimsumexpress · Answer

pructusThe person who made this argument is also saying that the verbs: advise, ask, beg, command, forbid, invite, order, persuade, remind, request, teach, urge….. are of the same type with “want”.

I rocked my brain on this one, but I couldn't see any commonality these verbs may share with "want". It is important to know, there are various shades in the meanings of "want".
This generation of spoiled kids want their parents to buy them everything their hearts desire. If you consider this sentence somewhat a representation to demonstrate the above statement. I would say, it doesn't hold up too well,

Want - by definition is purely a strong desire to have. In the sentence above, the "want" is for the parent to fulfill their desire, which is different than " I want to buy a new car, but I don't have the money."

A posted picture with the word " wanted " printed in bold has a different meaning. It doesn't mean the person in the picture is desired. Rather, the authority "wanted " this person behind bars. Or he is being hunted down by the FBI

Having said that, the construction of the OP question: The doctor was wanted to examine his wife.
left us semantically disoriented because we don't know what to make of it. Your sentence definitely had taken a wrong turn in my opinion.
That why I gave you get- passive construction: He wanted his wife examined by the doctor. That's just my personal interpretation.

CalifJim · Answer

pructusThe person who made this argument is also saying that the verbs: advise, ask, beg, command, forbid, invite, order, persuade, remind, request, teach, urge….. are of the same type with “want”.

False. Just the reverse. All except "want" in that list belong to the same class.

There are two classes of verbs that are relevant to your question: The Intend Class and The Persuade Class.

The structure is VERB + Noun Phrase + INFINITIVE, e.g., urge the men to leave; want the men to leave.

want belongs to the Intend Class. ask and expect belong to the Persuade Class. That's why they differ under passivization.
___________________

The difference is stated fairly well by the "argument" you presented in a previous post. Very loosely stated, if the verb doesn't take an indirect object, it's in the Intend Class; if it does, it's in the Persuade Class.
________

The verbs of the Intend Class relate directly to the whole of what follows:

Henry wants { Mary to dance with him }. He wants "Mary's dancing with him". He doesn't want something TO Mary. "Mary" has only one semantic role here. "Mary" is the subject of the proposition "Mary dances with Henry".
________

The verbs of the Persuade Class relate in two ways to what follows. The intervening noun phrases are objects of the first verb, usually indirect objects, AND subjects of another proposition.

Henry [ asked { Mary ] to dance with him }. He poses a question TO Mary (indirect object function), AND "Mary" is also the subject of the proposition "Mary dances with Henry". "Mary" has two semantic roles here. Note the interlocking groupings in my representation of the dual role of "Mary".

CJ

Edit: I may be wrong about what class "expect" belongs in, in which case I don't know how to explain that example.

Pructus · Answer

Thanks so much, CJ!!

After your reply, I read the argument again.
I misquoted it. It says, the verbs, advise, ask, beg, command, forbid, invite, order, persuade, remind, request, teach, urge, make the same construction with "I told Mary to see a doctor", whic is the construction of SV+IO+DO.

I think I've understood what you are saying, but I feel I need to do some more study on this issue to completely understand.

Turning into passive construction

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