Eladio  +  79175 Mon, 07 Mar 05 01:15 PM Please, could anybody tell me what are the active voices of these two passive? I think they haven’t active, but surely I’m wrong. Maybe there are many passive sentences without the correspondent active ones? 1) I want a letter written to her. 2) I’d like a car painted in red. Thank you in advance, Eladio Eladio Joined on Wed, Apr 28 2004 Full Member 136 Passive Sentences

	pieanne  +  79180 Mon, 07 Mar 05 01:20 PM I'll try! 1) I want someone to write a letter to her 2) I'd like a car that someone painted red, but they're pretty clumsy! pieanne Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005 South of France ...But I'm Belgian! Veteran Member 7,517 I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

	Eladio  +  79192 Mon, 07 Mar 05 01:36 PM Thank you pieanne. I've several questions: 1) is "painted in red" as I wrote, incorrect? => painted red? 2) I want a letter written to her. I think that "your active" is really an active one, but do not reflects what I wanted when I wrote "I want a letter written to her", because, maybe I want this letter (written say two years ago) to know what was written to her, and not that someone writes a letter to her. 3) Could you tell me if there could be passive sentences without the correspondent active ones? And thank you again. Eladio Eladio Passive Sentences

	pieanne  +  79201 Mon, 07 Mar 05 01:47 PM 1) no, it's not incorrect; from google, I could say it's less frequent. I used it because I remember the Rolling Stones. 2) do you mean "I want a letter written by her? 3) I don't think so... I think even the most terrible passive form can always be made active with the help of "someone", "people" etc... But then again, I'm not a teacher in this forum... pieanne

	Eladio  +  79208 Mon, 07 Mar 05 02:04 PM Thank you pieanne. No, not "by her" but "to her". Please, consider this: I'm a policeman, and I want to know what was written TO HER two years ago in order to know if she was threatened or something like this, so I want a letter written to her. Maybe the active is: I want a letter written by someone to her, BUT in this case, except for "by someone", the sentence is the same! And then again, what's the active of this passive? I'd like to write an active for that passive without the past participle "written"... Eladio

	pieanne  +  79213 Mon, 07 Mar 05 02:08 PM OK, I get it now! the, "I want a letter anybody wrote to her", but THEN I think the passive is better. To avoid any confusion, why not try something like: "I want to get/have to get - or - Somebody get me a letter written to her!"? (The latter in you police context) pieanne

	Casi  +  79217 Mon, 07 Mar 05 02:13 PM 1) I want a letter written to her. 2) I’d like a car painted in red. What about? 1) I want someone to write her a letter. 2) I'd like a red painted car. Ambiguous I want the letter written to her. a) I want the letter that someone wrote to her. => I want the letter that was written to her. b) I want someone to write her a letter. => I want the letter you write to be written to her. Casi Joined on Sat, Sep 25 2004 Regular Member 547

	Eladio  +  79238 Mon, 07 Mar 05 02:40 PM In the situation I’ve specified, I’d prefer to use: Pieanne: I want a letter anybody wrote to her. Or: Casi: I want the letter that someone wrote to her. Now I think I get it! Thank you both of you! Eladio

	pieanne  +  79240 Mon, 07 Mar 05 02:44 PM Maybe it would be better to say "I want the letter that X wrote to her". If it's THE letter (defined), then it couldn't have been written by anybody (someone, non defined)? pieanne