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yhemusa
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?
Jul 30, 2018 1:22 AM
Answers · 4
1
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.
July 30, 2018
1
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.
July 30, 2018
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yhemusa
Language Skills
Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Chinese (Cantonese), English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish
Learning Language
English, Russian
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