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From: Ben Sauvin <sauvin@csql.mv.com>
Subject: Re: a good time was had by all
Message-ID: <32585CBC.6344@csql.mv.com>
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Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 01:28:28 GMT
References: <3252B9D8.4159@pratique.fr> <530gbs$e29@clarknet.clark.net> <538gid$38c_003@actrix.gen.nz>
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Paul J Kriha wrote:
> 
> In article <530gbs$e29@clarknet.clark.net>, gusty@clark.net (Harlan Messinger) wrote:
> >Ivan <ibirks@pratique.fr> wrote:
> >
> >>If HAVE, in English, can't be used in passive sentences, as the grammar
> >>books tell us, why can we say 'a good time was had by all'?
> >
> >>I know it is true for French, but is it really true for all languages?
> >
> >Many languages don't even have a word comparable to "have", and many
> >don't have a passive, so it's hard to say.
> 
> Some languages even though they have words comparable to "have"
> and passive "had", would still use a completely different form.
> For example, reflexive "have".
> 
> Paul JK.
> 
> --
> The light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off to reduce overheads.

  The whole thing still strikes my ear as an artificial construct brewed 
by frustrated schoolmarms trying to describe Sunday afternoon picnics 
distant, isolated Midwest farming communities, usually in newsletters or 
bulletins three paragraphs long.

  The whole issue of passiveness (passivity?) could be avoided entirely 
by simply stating "Everybody had fun".
