afdan_
The meaning of "I was given". I was reading an article about the Titanic and the following sentence cought my attention. "We were given clothes because I'd only got my nightclothes and a blanket around me." At the first sight I got confused because I did not get why someone who was getting saved from the sea was giving clothes to someone else, even coz she said, "I'd only got my nightclothes and a blanket around me", so, that makes no sense. Then, of course, I realized what was the real meaning of the sentence, because it is obvious that in this case the verb GIVEN means that they gave them clothes. Can you explain me why in this particular case the verb "given" has this meaning? Thank you!
Nov 28, 2015 2:59 PM
Answers · 6
Thank you for your help, now I got it. Anyway I'm going to take a look on the passive voice :)
November 30, 2015
As Jmat and Richard observe, this is a passive construction. The active equivalent would be "they gave us clothes ...". The next point is that "give" can take a double object. The direct one in my example is "clothes"; the indirect one is "us" ("to us", effectively). That "us" becomes the subject when reformulated in the passive.
November 28, 2015
Jmat is correct. Here's a link that explains the 'passive voice': http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/activepassive.html
November 28, 2015
Have you learned the passive voice yet? You'll want to look it up.
November 28, 2015
Hello afdan! "I'd only got" here is not really proper english, its more slang. "I'd only got my nightclothes" means that that is all they were wearing. "I only had my nightclothes and a blanket around me" would be more proper.
November 28, 2015
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