Born-----present tense

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

I wanted to know what form of “born” should be used in this sentence


I always wanted to…(born) in USA.

2

Hi,

You would need the passive infinitive ‘be born’.

Alan

3

In general what is the present tense for “born”?

4

Hi,

Let’s start at the beginning. The active form is the verb ‘bear’ meaning broadly ‘carry’ as in ‘bear a heavy weight’ ‘bear a great responsibility’. The past is ‘bore’ and the past participle is ‘borne’. The other specific use means ‘give birth to’. It tends to be used in past tenses with that meaning as in: The wife of Charles Dickens bore him 10 children. She’s borne him 10 children. If you wanted to use the present tense, you would say: During the early years of their marriage Catherine Dickens bears him one child almost each year. When we want to refer to the act of coming to life, we use the passive and then the past participle has a different spelling as in: She was born in France.

Alan

5

Thank you! But could you explain why people say give birth to one calf rather than give birth one calf?
And…please, what is the difference between other than and rather than?

6

I’ll take “other than” vs. “rather than”

Rather than:

  • We should walk rather than drive.
  • Rather than pizza, I think I’ll order steak.
  • I would rather live than die.

–> With “rather than”, you are choosing one thing instead of another or showing preference for one thing over another.

Other than:

  • There is no use for this fruitcake other than as a brick.
  • There is nothing wrong with you, other than the fact that your breath stinks.

I think of “other than” as being generally synonymous with “aside from”.

7

Thank you!