Search from various 영어 teachers...
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!
2015년 11월 28일 오후 2:59
답변 · 6
Thank you for your help, now I got it. Anyway I'm going to take a look on the passive voice :)
2015년 11월 30일
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.
2015년 11월 28일
Jmat is correct. Here's a link that explains the 'passive voice':
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/activepassive.html
2015년 11월 28일
Have you learned the passive voice yet? You'll want to look it up.
2015년 11월 28일
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.
2015년 11월 28일
더 보기
아직도 답을 찾지 못하셨나요?
질문을 남겨보세요. 원어민이 도움을 줄 수 있을 거예요!
afdan_
언어 구사 능력
영어, 이탈리아어, 스페인어
학습 언어
영어, 스페인어
좋아할 수도 있는 읽을거리

How to Ask for a Raise or Promotion in English
9 좋아요 · 8 댓글

The Key to Learning a Language Faster
30 좋아요 · 8 댓글

Why "General English" is Failing Your Career (An Engineer’s Perspective)
30 좋아요 · 12 댓글
다른 읽을거리
