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e-test
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Urgent
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My dear friends around the world, i really need your help -again.
I �ve found this in a book and i can �t understand why the answer A is the correct one.
"Why are you home so early?"
"We had a bad accident..............at work."
A. Happen
B. Had happened
C. Has happened
D. Happened
If you know the answer please inform me.
Thanx
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12 Mar 2010
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feii
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It �s correct.
You have something done somewhere.
So had a bad accident happen at work is aboslutely correct.
Take care
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12 Mar 2010
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knds
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I would say that A is the answer, considering the exception of the causative form with have + bare infinitive. I don �t know if this thought is helpful. Maybe a native speaker could explain it better. Greetings! |
12 Mar 2010
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Spagman63
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A is correct. It means "to take place/to occur". Had is acting as an auxiliary verb and the following verb needs to be in the simple present tense.
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13 Mar 2010
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bluebird4
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Sometimes it helps to substitute different words when you are trying to figure out the correct way to say or write something.
For example, if you use the word "glass" instead of "bad accident", and you use the word "break" instead of "happen", you can probably see it much better.
The sentence would be:
We had a glass break at work.
You wouldn �t say, "We had a glass broke at work" or "We had a glass has (had) broken at work."
Here are a few others:
We had a bell ring at work. (Not rang)
We had a bird sing at work. (Not sang)
We had a lamp fall at work. (Not fell)
I hope this helps.
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13 Mar 2010
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Mar0919
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Bluebird, excellent way to figure out and understand a certain confusing phrase! Thanks...
I can understand A is correct but I would �ve never thought of changing the words to understand it better! Very clever, thanks!
Mar |
13 Mar 2010
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e-test
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Thank you all, it really helps. Sometimes is very difficult to analyze why something is correct. THANKS AGAIN.
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13 Mar 2010
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mjotab
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I had never heard of that structure! Then it is as if the verb happen were a noun and the noun accident were an adjective?
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13 Mar 2010
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e-test
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mjotab Adjective? I don �t think so. I would ask Bluebird to anylize the structure and if possible to refer the exact grammar rule tha justifies his answer.
Thanks.
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13 Mar 2010
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yanogator
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mjotab,
I think you �re confused about this. It is a structure very similar to the causative.
Consider "The slippery floor made a bad accident happen at work today", and compare that to "We had a bad accident happen at work today."
Note also that this is the bare infinitive, not the simple present of "happen".
I hope this makes it clearer.
Bruce |
13 Mar 2010
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mjotab
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Thanks, yanogator, e-test, I think I understand it now. There isn �t a similar structure in Spanish (as far as I know), so it troubles my mind :)
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13 Mar 2010
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