Hello, everyone. I'm truly surprised to see a simple question has developed into such a long thread which, I must say, has strayed from the original question. "Alive" is not an object complement. It is simply an adjective that is used

Hello again, MrP (IF I may I call you MrP). I think I understand now what you meant in the post I found confusing. You said: “...which implies that the subject of the <whosever/whose-ever> clause in the example is the same as the

Hello Roro OED says about the etymology of "cost" as follows. a. OF. coster, couster (mod. coûter) = Pr. and Sp. costar, Pg. custar, It. costare:—L. constôre to stand together, stand firm, abide, be settled or fixed, stand at a price,

Thanks, Paco, I'd forgotten about that thread! Since we're discussing passive constructions ('who was given the book?') rather than active constructions ('to whom did you give the book?'), it might be easier to take an example whose 'active

"We'll send you them back" is not a particularly felicitous construction! For the most idiomatic patterns, you'll need one of these: We send the letter to John. We send John the letter. We send it to John. (Not: We send John it.) We

Hello, 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