italki - verb or adjective? British text My country is never affected by severe earthquakes. In This sentence

Artur

verb or adjective? British text My country is never affected by severe earthquakes. In This sentence affected - verb or adjective? Maybe it is passive voice? Whe we use past of "affect" ? California is often struck by earthquake. struck - verb or adjective? Why we use past of "strike" here? Thanks for help.

2016年2月9日 14:47

回答 · 7

It's a passive construction. The clue is the past participle together with an actual or potential "by" clause. To recast it as active: a) Take what is in the "by" clause and make it the subject -- "severe earthquakes" b) Take the past participle and rewrite it as a finite verb (a) in the same tense as had been used by the verb "be" in the passive version and (b) agreeing with the new subject -- "affect" c) Remember your adverbs -- "never" d) Your old subject becomes the new object -- "my country" e) Put it all together -- "Severe earthquakes never affect my country"

2016年2月9日

In both sentences, "struck" and "affected" are verbs in the passive voice. "To be" before the past participle forms the passive voice. By the way, it should be "earthquakeS" in the second sentence. The sentences could be rewritten as "Severe earthquakes never affect my country" and "Earthquakes often strike California".

2016年2月9日