PASSIVE: The candle was blown OUT BY the wind

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

Hi! How is it going?. Let?s go!

“The candle was blown OUT BY the wind”

There are two prepositions together( one from
the phrasal verb “Blow out” and the other from
the passive). It doesn?t really sound well to
me. The sentence, I think, is fine, but I don?t know why
in listening I believe there?s something wrong.
Should I put “out” at the end of the sentece?

Thanks indeed again!

all the best!

2

Hi Jesus1,

The sentence:

is fine as it stands. If you say it aloud, you would pause after out to indicate that the verb is in fact blow out and then say by the wind. Phrasal verbs can be separated when they are transitive/take an object. You can say blow out the candle/blow the candle out but this won’t work here with the passive by putting out at the end.

It may sound a little strange but as I say, keep in mind that the phrasal verb is like a separate item. You can also have more than two prepositions together as in:

They were looked up to (respected) by the country.

Alan