Re: Passive voice

---SNIP---
> It has moreover occurred to me that there is a restriction to this usage -
> at least in English. For example, I can say:
>
> He is looking at the boy - the boy is being looked at.
"look at " is idiomatic; "the boy" is in fact the direct object of
"look at". "at" is not separable from "look".

>
> But I cannot say:
>
> They hit the boy at the schoolyard - the schoolyard was being hit at; since
> the last sentence is inferring something completely different.
>
Right. Here "the schoolyard" is an oblique object. But you can say "at
the schoolyard the boy was being hit" or "the boy was being hit at the
schoolyard".

Here's another sample where the indirect object is truly indirect,
taking no governing preposition.

She teaches him the lesson.

Note what happens when we want to passivise one of the two objects:

"The lesson is taught to him" or "The lesson is taught him"

"He is taught the lesson" or "To him is taught the lesson"

In each case the latter form sounds a bit arch, but in the first it's
the one that lacks a preposition governing "him", while in the second
it's the one that _includes_ such a preposition. Weird!

(My Turkish friend handles these things with aplomb. I asked her how
she does it. She said, "I've lived in Canada for many years. And, not
to be modest about it, I was the best English student at university.")

---larry

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