When there are two objects in an active sentence, there are two possible active sentences and two possible passive sentences.
possibility 1: The professor explained the students the exercise.
possibility 2: The professor explained the exercise to the students.
There are two objects in each of the following sentences:
object 1 = indirect object: the students
object 2 = direct object: the exercise
An indirect object is very often a person, a direct object a thing. When a direct object is followed by an indirect one, we put to in front of the indirect object.
| active sentence - possibility 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| subject | verb | indirect object | direct object |
| The professor | explained | the students | the exercise. |
| active sentence - possibility 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| subject | verb | direct object | indirect object |
| The professor | explained | the exercise | to the students. |
Each of the objects (direct and indirect) can be the subject in the passive sentence.
| passive sentence - possibility 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| subject | verb | object | (by-agent) |
| The students | were explained | the exercise. | (by the professor). |
| passive sentence - possibility 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| subject | verb | object | (by-agent) |
| The exercise | was explained | to the students | (by the professor). |
Possibility 1 is sometimes called Personal passive.
© 1999-2012 englisch-hilfen.de
