Passive Voice: The truth has been told her. vs She has been told the truth.

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

Hello everybody!

Are the following sentences correct?
1)The truth has been told her.
2)She has been told the truth.
Which of them more preferable in use?

Thanks.

2

Hi,
Yes,both of them are correct.
It depends on the writer’s or speaker’s purpose how to express his/her idea(preference).
Regards,
Morteza

3

1)The truth has been told [color=red]to her.
2)She has been told the truth.

4

I agree with Milanya

5

Thanks a lot to everybody!

6

Hi Dear Milanya,
I think “The truth has been told to her.” is wrong.Beccause “Tell smb the truth” is right,not “tell the truth to smb”.
I look forward to your answer,
Morteza

7

And don’t we always have to use object pronouns after “tell”? like tell me, tell him, tell us and so on?

8

The truth has been told [color=red]to her. It is a Passive Voice sentence.
Just like in:
They showed her the letter.-The letter was shown to her.
They have read him the article -The article has been read to him."
I was given a book- A book was given to me.

You,guys,are talking about Active Voice. Milanya is right.

Cheers,

9

Milanya is rarely, if ever, wrong. She is that good. Seriously.

Kitos.

10

“Tell smb the truth” is right and “tell the truth to smb” is also correct.

One can “tell somebody something” or " tell something
[color=red]to somebody and be correct on both counts.

Mister Micawber agrees with me and he is a very high authority:
english-test.net/forum/ftopic9667.html

11

Hi Milanya,
1.Having looked up in some dictionaries,I could only find this pattern:“To tell smb smth”(NOT smth to smb).
Therefore,I think “The truth was told her.” is correct.
2.However,some verbs have two patterns:“To give smb smth OR smth to smb”.
So,both “She was given a book.” and “A book was given to her.” are right.
3.If we can’t put the indirect object after the active verb,we can’t use it as subject of the passive:
“To explain smth to smb”(NOT smb smth)
My solutions were explained to her.(NOT She was explained my solutions.)
I hope you are convinced now.
Regards,
Morteza

12

No, I am not convinced. I still think that

is incorrect, but I am not going to argue. Let us agree to disagree.

P.S. CORPUS OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ENGLISH gave me 260 hits for “tell it to *.” I also know the idiom “Tell it to the marines.”

(and Google gave me this: Results 1 - 10 of about 195,000,000 for tell it to.)

13

Hello everyone,

Though I suppose I wouldn’t go quite so far as to call “The truth was told her” completely incorrect, that sentence does sound awkward to my ear.

I would suggest that one of the primary reasons it sounds awkward is that “tell the truth” is a very commonly used idiom, and that is simply the expected word order. Therefore, “She was told the truth” is what sounds most natural as a passive sentence.

That may also be the reason that “The truth was told to her” doesn’t sound particularly natural to me either – even though I would say using the word “to” is quite appropriate, grammatically speaking.
8)
I agree with Milanya that “tell” + “direct object” + “to someone” (i.e. indirect object) can be and is also used:

  • He told his story to the National Enquirer.
  • He told his story to a reporter from the National Enquirer.
  • Tell it to the judge.

[color=darkblue]_________________________
[size=84]Truth springs from argument amongst friends.[/size]

14

Hi Milanya & ESL Expert,
I really thank you for your help and explanations.
Regards,
Morteza

15

Admittedly, ‘be told to her’ sounds more natural. But I’m certain that I have read ‘be told her’ even in serious readings now and then, for example(all from serious media):

[i]Background Briefing has been told that President Putin listened attentively as [color=red]the story was told him, and as Elizabeth’s CD was pressed into his hands, …

As Wolfy grows up, he begins to find a context for the folkloric family stories [color=red]that have been told him since before he can remember.

Perhaps it was horrifying, the author suggested, because[color=red] it had been told him as a true story by someone who worked in a hospital. [/i]

16

Hi dear friends,
Lets make this sentence active: i.e. Martine has told her the truth. Passive voice: The truth has been told to her. Cristal clear I assume because the truth is not going to reveal her, though, unveil something to her!

Regards,

17

Hi Iwanna,
Thanks a lot!Your explanations made me become much more sure about this issue.
Best regards,
Morteza