In Present perfect^x, Passive sentences^x

The "rule" of not mixing active and passive only applies where it is possible to make all the parts active or all passive. Further note that the example on that website is of a sentence of two independent clauses joined by "and". I don't think the "rule"...

1.Several thousand people were killed by the earthquake in China. 2.Several thousand people had been killed by the earthquake in China. I know the first sentence is fine. It is a passive sentence. It is not correct to say 'has been killed' because the quake took place almost 2 weeks ago....

I'm not an expert on grammar or linguistics, but here are my thoughts as an ordinary native user of English. I hope I got all the grammatical terminology correct! I think that all verbs -- transitive or intransitive -- are able to form present perfect sentences: "He has died",...

Hi KooyeenI really don't have any statistics on which tense would be more frequently used in informal AmE in a passive sentence like yours. But I do think that we're more likely to the present perfect in "Damn! My bike's been stolen!" than to use the present perfect in "Damn! Somebody has...

HI again Amy, I'm so sorry... I still don't understand and I have the exact same problem, LOL. I think we are not understanding each other well, so I'll try to be clearer now. Yankee wrote:I agreed with you that, in AmE, using the present perfect would be more "natural" in that sort of passive...

Hi KooyeeenI agreed with you that, in AmE, using the present perfect would be more "natural" in that sort of passive sentence than it would be in the active version of the same sentence. However, I also wanted to emphasize the fact that you added context -- and context tends to influence...

Yankee wrote:I do see your point, though. I suppose we would tend to be more "willing" to use the present perfect in a sentence such as "My bike's been stolen." -- especially with "Damn!" preceding it. Still, I wouldn't find "Damn! My bike was stolen!" particularly odd in everyday AmE.Thanks...

Yankee wrote:If you decide to use the present perfect, then it doesn't matter whether the sentence is active or passive. You have decided to use the present perfect. Period.Likewise, if you decide to use the past simple, then it doesn't matter whether the sentence is active or passive. You...

If you decide to use the present perfect, then it doesn't matter whether the sentence is active or passive. You have decided to use the present perfect. Period.Likewise, if you decide to use the past simple, then it doesn't matter whether the sentence is active or passive. You have decided to...

Thank you Yankee - you've been a tremendous help. My English has become so corrupted over the years that I can no longer tell when a sentence sounds idiomatic, which often causes me to second-guess myself. One more thing: for some reason, it seems more natural to use the present perfect in...