Samuel
Being + Past Participle ( Passive Voice? or other grammar structure) Hello , I don't understand the structure of this: "the most complaints received in any sector relate to people being sold faulty cars or being tricked..." My doubt is about " being sold and being tricked"...Is the writer using passive voice? If the answer is Yes , Why don't we use "verb to be"? .. like "relate to people are being sold ... " Thank you!! PD: Is this connected to relative clauses?
2017年3月9日 18:01
回答 · 9
3
They are passive gerund clauses. "The most complaints received in any sector relate to people being sold faulty cars..." = "The most complaints received in any sector relate to the selling of faulty cars (to people) "people being sold faulty cars..." acts as a noun phrase in this sentence. It is part of the same sentence. The main verb in the sentence is "relate". The verb form in any gerund phrase is always -ing.
2017年3月9日
2
Yes, it is passive and also related to relative clauses! :) You can read the sentence like this: "the most complaints received in any sector relate to people [who are/were] being sold faulty cars or being tricked..." You could also write, "...relate to people who have/had been sold...", and now you see that writing the sentence is becoming a little unwieldy. Which tense should you use? The good thing about this kind of clause is that you don't need to worry about the tense. Just put that extra information right after the thing being mentioned.
2017年3月9日
This is actually the present progressive of the verb "to be" in an elliptical construction. It is as follows, "the most complaints received in any sector relate to people [who are] being sold faulty cars or [who are] being tricked..." Upon further reflection, it is a form of passive voice. Your second sentence is not using the infinitive either, "to" is a preposition. It should read, "relating to people who are being sold..." Depending on the remainder of the sentence "relating" would be a gerund or participle.
2017年3月9日
还未找到你的答案吗?
把你的问题写下来,让母语人士来帮助你!