would structure

Question

Please help me,I have severe problem with Would structure in english language.which one of the sentences below,are grammaticaly correct?!!!!!!!!!!!!please explain it why it is or whay not....

Reporter: tell me about the accident.

1.Police officer: Two people have been injured in the accident.I think they will survive.

2.Police officer: Two people have been injured in the accident.I think they will be survived.

3.Police officer: Two people have been injured in the accident.I think they would survive.

4.Police officer: Two people have been injured in the accident.I think they would be survived.

thanks alot

for further study about the would structure give me some advice.

Rotter · Accepted Answer

I have learnt from Marius and the others about the verb 'would'.

In your first sentence, you are somewhat sure that the people will survive. Probably the injuries they receive are not life threatining.

In your fourth sentence, you are guessing that the people will survive. It borders hypothesis. Probably they are unconscious due to the serious nature of the injuries.

CalifJim · Answer

survive is intransitive in the meaning you're using here, so 2 and 4 are impossible.

would is the future of the past, and you have no past tense here, so only 1 is correct.

Two people have (present) been injured (passive perfect).
They will (future of the present) survive.

In the past:

Two people had (past) been injured (passive perfect).
They would (future of the past) survive.

CJ

Rotter · Answer

CalfJim
I just looked at the dictionary. The word 'survive' is both transitive and intransitive.
How do you say it is transitive in this context?

CalifJim · Answer

How do you say it is transitive in this context?

Hi, Rotter,

I didn't say it was transitive; I said it was intransitive.

They survived. = They did not die.

Does that clear up the problem?

CJ

Rotter · Answer

CalifJim, I have a limited knowledge of analyzing these things.

Two people have been injured in the accident.I think they will be survived.
So in the above verb 'survived' is transitive.

To be transitive there should be an object; however, the verb 'survive' is naked. I mean there is no word after it.
Transitrive means there should be an object; no words follows the verb 'survived'.

Rotter · Answer

I am waiting a reply from CalifJim. I hope he will see this sooner or later.

CalifJim · Answer

survive is like die in this context.

You can say: They have been injured and I think they will die.
Or you can say: They have been injured and I think they will survive. (they won't die).

Now a person can't die something (the way that you can throw something). So die is intransitive. (And throw is transitive.) The same applies to survive as to die. Both work the same way. Here survive means they are not going to die, so you can't say that they're not going to die something; that is, you can't say that they're going to survive something. They're just going to die; or they're just going to survive. Both die and survive are intransitive in these sentences.

>>>Any verb that is intransitive has no passive form -- no form with be.

A person can't "be died"; so a person can't "be survived" in the sense of "not be died". So all the sentences with be survived (above) are wrong because they are trying to use passive forms with verbs that have no passive forms.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

I find it is difficult to digest everything CalifJim has written to explain me the point in question. I must read carefully again and again.

The verb 'die' is intransitive.

When you say someone died of cancer, I think the verb 'died' is transitive.

5. He died of cancer.
I am not sure.

Rotter · Answer

I find it is difficult to digest everything CalifJim has written to explain me the point in question. I must read carefully again and again.

The verb 'die' is intransitive.

When you say someone died of cancer, I think the verb 'died' is transitive.

5. He died of cancer.
I am not sure.

[ There are problems on the website. The duplication of posts are beyond my control.]

CalifJim · Answer

The verb must indicate some action upon the object. Otherwise it is not transitive.
This is normally shown by a combination of verb and noun with no words like prepositions in between. The noun immediately after the verb is the direct object.
____________

The direct objects which make the following verbs transitive are shown in blue below.

He threw the ball. (He did something that affected the ball. He acted upon the ball.)
He sent the letter. (He did something that affected the letter. He acted upon the letter.)
He broke the cup. (He did something that affected the cup. He acted upon the cup.)
He lifts the box. (He does something that affects the box. He acts upon the box.)
He opens the door. (He does something that affects the door. He acts upon the door.)
____________

The following show intransitive verbs followed by prepositional phrases. There are no direct objects. The prepositional phrases are marked in green.

He sleeps on the floor. (He does nothing that affects the floor. He does not act upon the floor.)
He died of cancer. (He did nothing that affected cancer. He did not act upon cancer.)
He talks about the children. (He does nothing that affects the children. He does not act upon the children.)
He looked around the corner. (He did nothing that affected the corner. He did not act upon the corner.)
He walks in the garden. (He does nothing that affects the garden. He does not act upon the garden.)

Maybe that will help.

CJ

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