http://www.englishforums.com/English/EslGeneralEnglishGrammar-Questions/Forum12.htmAsk your questions on grammar and get your sentence checked. We answer lots of different types of general English grammar questions here. <font color=red>DO NOT post paragraphs and compositions here. Post them in our <a href="http://www.englishforums.com/English/EssayReportCompositionWriting/Forum9.htm"><b>Essay, Report and Composition Writing Forum</b></a>.</font>enXMOD (Build: 3615.29165)http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/2/ddcg/Post.htm#683854Fri, 06 Mar 2009 23:22:33 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:683854Yankee0http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/2/ddcg/Post.htm#683854http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-683854.xmlHi Anon In the active voice you can say: (1) &quot; Someone has revealed the secret .&quot; You can also say: (2)&quot; Someone has revealed the secret to me .&quot; The verb &quot;reveal&quot; is naturally monotransitive. However, that does not rule out the possibility of adding an indirect object as in sentence 2 (using &quot;to me&quot;). However, it is not idiomatic to give the verb &quot;reveal&quot; an indirect object this way: *(3)&quot; Someone has revealed me the secret . &quot; It seems to me that is why this passive version is fine: &quot; The secret has been revealed to me .&quot; And that is also the reason that this passive version is not acceptable: * &quot; I have been revealed the secret. &quot;http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/2/ddcg/Post.htm#683838Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:44:11 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:683838Anonymous1http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/2/ddcg/Post.htm#683838http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-683838.xmlcan anyone help me?? is it right to say: I have been revealed the secret. ? (=the secret has been revealed to me) is this transformation possible? THX!http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#35336Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:27:50 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:35336taiwandave2http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#35336http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-35336.xmlThat was an excellent and engrossing explanation by Miriam. When reading introductory grammar books, one often gets the sense that many important things are being left out for the sake of simplicity. I find this very frustrating. So it's fantastic when someone goes to the trouble of addressing a topic thoroughly and without shying away from providing important surrounding information such as definitions of relevant terminology. Both teachers and students, when reading a post like this, can learn something new or have existing knowledge reinforced.http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#35230Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:27:50 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:35230miriam3http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#35230http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-35230.xmlHello, Daniel There is an explanation for the existence of sentences like "I'm given water" which is, by the way, grammatically correct. As has been explained here, the first you need in order for a sentence in the passive voice to be possible is a transitive verb and its direct object. You may have sentences like: "Someone has stolen my wallet." "My wallet has been stolen." "steal" is a transitive verb, and its object (in the first sentence) is "my wallet". In the second sentence (passive voice) the object of the first sentence has become subject, and "someone" is not necessary because it does not add any useful information. If it did, or if it were relevant for any orher reasons, it would appear in the predicate of the...http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#35035Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:27:50 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:35035Guest4http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#35035http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-35035.xmlIt seems to me that the sentece " I was stolen my wallet" is grammatically impossible, because there is no corresponding active sentence which is grammatically correct. In my understanding, a passive sentence is grammatically acceptable only if you can reconstruct a grammatically well-formed active sentence from the passive. For example, "I was given a book" can be transformed into "(somebody) gave me a book, which is correct English. On the other hand, if you try to transform "I was stolen my wallet" into an active sentence, you will end up with "(somebody) stole me my wallet, which is not standard English. In the case of "I was robbed! (of my wallet)", you can transform it into "(somebody) robbed me of my wallet", which is acceptable.http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#16012Sun, 24 May 2009 19:27:50 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:16012Raul5http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#16012http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-16012.xmlIt sounds incorrect to my ears. "I am stolen" means present. You should say "I was stolen my wallet" or "I've just been stolen my wallet". As a matter of fact, it's much more common to hear "My wallet was stolen!" or a plain "I was robbed!". Hope this helps!http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#15797Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:27:50 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:15797Guest6http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#15797http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-15797.xmlIn my thinking the sentence "I am stolen my wallet..." is not a completed sentence (I would say it is a broken sentence). I am stolen , my wallet... That person wanted to express his wallet was stolen by someone. Correctme if I am wrong!!!http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#15704Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:27:50 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:15704daniel salas7http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#15704http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-15704.xmlthanks for your replies ,well i can manage more o r less that kind of sentences such as my wallet has been stolen ,i mean i understand the meaning ,the problem is that i tend to confuse when somebody says ,for example,i'm stolen my wallet....i dont know if it is correct but i have heard ppl saying that,can someone correct me there?? thankshttp://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#15658Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:27:50 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:15658heatherbiene8http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#15658http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-15658.xmlThat's an interesteing and good point Raul. I would like to add that when I teach passive to my ESL students in Australia I explain it by saying: USE: We use the passive when the SUBJECT (the person or thing that does the action) is either not known or not as important as the OBJECT. Why passive? If we don't know who, or it's not important who, (or, for politicians sometimes they don't want us to know who!!:-o) we would probably use the passive: An example in the past simple: ACTIVE: Somebody stole my wallet yesterday. PASSIVE: My wallet was stolen yesterday. FORM: BE (in whatever form e.g. past simple, present perfect) + PAST PARTICIPLE e.g. was stolen (PAST SIMPLE) has been stolen (PRESENT PERFECT) had been...http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#15647Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:27:50 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:15647Raul9http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htm#15647http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-15647.xmlThe rule of thumb: Someone GIVES something but... Something IS GIVEN TO someone If you say "I'm given", it feels as if there were something missing. You are given what? The usage of passive voice is widely criticized in formal and literary settings, but accepted in technical writing where "impersonal" information is prefered. Compare: When we connect a load to a transmission line, this will experience an insertion loss. to... When a transmission line is loaded, an insertion loss is experienced. You may read the first sentence in a book "about" telecommunications, but the second one in a book "on" telecommunications. Personal nouns are usually omitted in technical writing and the passive voice (i.e. impersonal) is...http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htmSun, 24 May 2009 19:27:50 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:15646daniel salas10http://www.englishforums.com/English/Passive/ddcg/post.htmhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-15646.xmlhi,can anybody explain how does passie voice works here"i'm given water"shouldn't it be water is given to me,im so confused with this ,how do a know more or less how it works,or is it just like saying "the picture is painted"just that it sounds weird to me when i say ,water is given to me,can anybody help me with a good explanation thanks ,daniel