Re: USAGE: 'born'
From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
Date: | Tuesday, May 8, 2001, 19:15 |
Muke Tever wrote:
> The passive means the subject is
> acted on, and if the active means the subject is the baby coming into the world
> ('being born'), then the passive would be the baby being brought into the world
> ('being given birth to'), wouldn't it?
Right ... if something is acting on something else, it's transitive,
i.e., "give birth to", or if you prefer "cause to be born".
> <se X> is also used as a (medio-)passive verb form. ["se habla español..."] And
> in any case, a reflexive of 'to die' is equally nonexistent in English for the
> same reason, isn't it? If it's "intransitive", it can't take a reflexive,
> because the reflexive takes an object (which is the same as the subject)?
Spanish reflexive is sometimes used with intransitive verbs as a sort of
"strengthening", like "Me voy" *"I'm going myself" for "I'm leaving"
--
Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon
A nation without a language is a nation without a heart - Welsh proverb
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