Does ‘no injuries were sustained’ sound natural?
An English learner presented this sentence for correction:

-- She fell off the double-decker bed, albeit no injuries were sustained.--

I have a vague feeling that, except the errors, the use of 'sustain' as in 'injuries were sustained' (in the passive)is not so natural. I'd prefer something like:

She fell off the bunk red, but fortunetely uninjured/ but luckily did not sustain injuries.

So is the use in passive natural indeed?

Question

Does ‘no injuries were sustained’ sound natural?
An English learner presented this sentence for correction:

-- She fell off the double-decker bed, albeit no injuries were sustained.--

I have a vague feeling that, except the errors, the use of 'sustain' as in 'injuries were sustained' (in the passive)is not so natural. I'd prefer something like:

She fell off the bunk red, but fortunetely uninjured/ but luckily did not sustain injuries.

So is the use in passive natural indeed?

Answer

The most natural way to say this is - she fell off the bunk bed, but fortunately she wasn't injured/hurt. The original sentence is very formal and sounds like a police statement.

Answer

Agree with you. The use of passive in this sentence is unnecessary (the person is surely more important!) and so using the passive makes it sound very formal. I reckon it would work in a newspaper for this reason: “numerous injuries were sustained in the aftermath of the earthquake” - because it sounds more formal.

Verpassen Sie nicht die Gelegenheit, bequem von zu Hause aus eine Sprache zu lernen. Stöbern Sie in unserer Auswahl an erfahrenen Sprachlehrern und melden Sie sich jetzt zu Ihrer ersten Unterrichtsstunde an!