Active: Alastair arranged to take Kathy to the station. Passive: Kathy was arranged to be taken to the station by Alastair. This sentence I read is a bit awkward., but I am not sure, could you explain it to me?
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1Your suggestion won't work because the past participial "was arranged" cannot be used here with a proper name. Try: "It was arranged by Alistair to take Kathy to the station". – BillJ Nov 24 '23 at 08:56
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'to take Kathy to the station was arranged by Alastair' – Kyamond Nov 24 '23 at 11:16
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@Kyamond No: your suggested sentence is ungrammatical. – BillJ Nov 24 '23 at 17:27
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@BillJ Huh? How come? – Kyamond Nov 25 '23 at 00:18
1 Answers
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If the active sentence was simply "Alastair arranged it", then the passive voice would be "It was arranged by Alastair".
So, the passive voice with the full detail would be:
It was arranged by Alastair for Kathy to be taken to the station.
It doesn't matter that Alastair still appears before Kathy in the sentence - she is just part of the arrangement.
You could say "It was arranged for Kathy to be taken to the station by Alastair", but it would sound like Alastair is the one taking her to the station, not the one making the arrangement.
Astralbee
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+1 Another slightly awkward possibility is "The taking of Kathy to the station was arranged by Alastair". This at least excuses Alistair from having taken her personally. If he did take her, then the arrangement is probably redundant anyway. Then it could simply be "Kathy was taken to the station by Alistair". – Billy Kerr Dec 24 '23 at 23:43