Learn English – ”She has been” vs ”She was”

grammarpassive-voice

I'm doubtful about the following passive forms:

  1. She was suggested to take off…
  2. She has been suggested to take off…

I suggested her to take off for some days.

So, when the sentence begins with "She", which one is correct?

Best Answer

The entire question is simply wrong. "She" is not the object of "suggested" -- rather it's the entire phrase "she take time off". In this context, suggest doesn't take a person as an object. I can suggest a course of action to someone, but I don't suggest the person directly.

A different context where this does work is if I am suggesting a person for something like a job:

I suggested them as potential replacements for the ministers who recently resigned.

In this case I can invert and use the passive voice:

They were suggested (by me) as potential replacements ...

But that's not the case with your example. Here you simply can't start the sentence with "she" and use "suggest" as a passive. It doesn't make sense. Instead you have to replace it with another verb which does take a person as the object, like advise, or order.

Related Topic