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Passive voice 2

hirashin

Sempai
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8 Apr 2004
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Dear native English speakers,
these are from the textbook. Do they sound right?

1 The song is known well by the students.
2 Her feelongs were hurt by the rumors.
3 The outdoor party will be called off if it rains.
4 The actor is said to have a lot of fans. [Does this sentence have
the same meaning as "They say that the actor has a lot of fans"?]
5 They were satisfied with / by the result.
6 The table was covered with / by a tablecloth.

Thanks in advance.
Hirashin
 
1 The song is known well by the students.
Sounds very un-natural but I can't say it's wrong.

2 Her feelongs were hurt by the rumors.
*feelings

3 The outdoor party will be called off if it rains.
Ok

4 The actor is said to have a lot of fans. [Does this sentence have
the same meaning as "They say that the actor has a lot of fans"?]
Ok. Yes

5 They were satisfied with / by the result.
Ok. I think "with" sounds better. It sounds more like they were involved in the process.

6 The table was covered with / by a tablecloth.
Ok. Both are fine I'd say.
 
Thanks for the help, Michael2 and mdchachi. I can see "feelong" is wrong. I must have been sleepy last night. :)
 
1 The song is known well by the students.
Sounds very un-natural but I can't say it's wrong.

I think you can say
1B) The song is well known.

How about these sentences, then?
1C) The song is well known by the students.
1D) The song is well known all over the world.
1E) The song is well known by people in the world.
1F) The song is well known by a lot of people [/many people] in the world.
1G) The song is well known by some people in this country.
1H) The song is well known by people in this country.
 
Of course, yes, "well known" would be fine. I don't know what I was thinking!

Although E sounds a bit odd. "People all over the world" is the common expression, although "people in this country" is fine. English is tough!
 
Thanks for the help, Michael2.
Of course, yes, "well known" would be fine. I don't know what I was thinking!
Isn't it that "the song is known well by the students" sounds unnatural while "the song is well known by the students" sounds natural?

Although E sounds a bit odd. "People all over the world" is the common expression, although "people in this country" is fine. English is tough!

Is it that "the song is well known by people all over the world" would sound natural?
 
I think it doesn't sound quite natural simply because you would normally name the country e.g.
The song is well known by people in Japan.
But for English language learning purposes, "this country" is fine.
 
I think it doesn't sound quite natural simply because you would normally name the country e.g.
The song is well known by people in Japan.
But for English language learning purposes, "this country" is fine.

How about the others? Do the rest sound natural?
 
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