This is perhaps what Lawrence expected:
The day after it was passed by the Senate.
I would certainly find it more readable in that form.
I think “passed the Senate” is a standard form of words.
I agree, but I still find the alternative more readable… and perhaps Lawrence can tell us whether I guessed correctly about the tense he expected to see.
It stands for bill. Passed can be transitive or intransitive. If transitive, was passed will be more grammatical and readable. If intransitive, the writer may be assumed to have meant that the bill had moved from one hand to another in the Senate. This could be the situation, in my view. What Bev guessed was what I expected, and it was for the sake of clarity to the ordinary reader who should not labour much to get the import of the news.
Hi,
The uses of ‘pass’ are varied. In the sentence above I would suggest it means ‘got through successfully’. In that case I believe the passive is unnecessary.
.
Alan