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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Why use passive tense on scatter when talking about cells?
I saw a newspaper having a sentence below:
My cells were scattered all over the place. I had no choice.
Why use passive tense? In my opinion, I think cells are alive. They can move by themselves.
Thank you
My cells were scattered all over the place. I had no choice.
Why use passive tense? In my opinion, I think cells are alive. They can move by themselves.
Thank you
Top answer
Hi The reference here is to cancerous cells and the question is whether they have only appeared in one place or are in many places This is not a matter of whether the individual cells have - actively - scattered. They are not moving. It's a question of where they are found: are they found to be localised (in one small place) or are they found to be scattered (all over the place).
- Hi The reference here is to cancerous cells and the question is whether they have only appeared in one place or are in many places This is not a matter of whether the individual cells have - actively - scattered.
- They are not moving.
- It's a question of where they are found: are they found to be localised (in one small place) or are they found to be scattered (all over the place).
- So the passive is correct Dave
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1 Answers
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Hi
The reference here is to cancerous cells and the question is whether they have only appeared in one place or are in many places
This is not a matter of whether the individual cells have - actively - scattered. They are not moving. It's a question of where they are found: are they found to be localised (in one small place) or are they found to be scattered (all over the place
The reference here is to cancerous cells and the question is whether they have only appeared in one place or are in many places
This is not a matter of whether the individual cells have - actively - scattered. They are not moving. It's a question of where they are found: are they found to be localised (in one small place) or are they found to be scattered (all over the place
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