B1 Point 6 in the category of PASSIVES is defined as:
past simple passive with a limited range of verbs needing two objects, putting the indirect object in subject position.
*There is more information about this grammar at B2
TLC SPEAKING TEST EXAMPLE:
I was given a big horse.
female Russia B1
PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE:
When my husband was given a blow to the head in Oakland last year,
I got frightened.
Japnese female, level 5, grammar class.
*our grammar is hidden under the complex noun phrase in the second example.
This is a difficult structure to locate automatically. We search in iWeb for:
was|were _VVN _N
Most examples do not give us a second object, so we have manually removed most.
12 WAS GIVEN PERMISSION 965
22 WAS GRANTED PERMISSION 696
25 WAS GRANTED BAIL 600
26 WAS GIVEN COMMAND 599
34 WAS DENIED ENTRY 536
36 WERE GIVEN PERMISSION 487
37 WAS DENIED ACCESS 483
38 WERE GIVEN ACCESS 459
39 WERE DENIED ACCESS 452
40 WAS GIVEN ACCESS 446
42 WAS GIVEN CREDIT 438
45 WAS REFUSED ENTRY 404
50 WERE ASKED QUESTIONS 381
55 WAS TAKEN ADVANTAGE 363
61 WERE DENIED ENTRY 321
67 WAS REFUSED BAIL 273
72 WERE GRANTED PERMISSION 260
75 WAS GRANTED ACCESS 255
78 WERE REFUSED ENTRY 245
81 WAS GIVEN RESPONSIBILITY 241
84 WAS DENIED BAIL 232
85 WAS GIVEN TIME 229
88 WAS GIVEN AUTHORITY 223
89 WAS REFUSED PERMISSION 220
90 WERE GIVEN TIME 219
91 WAS GIVEN POWER 218
93 WAS GIVEN ANTIBIOTICS 215
95 WAS DENIED ADMISSION 196
96 WAS GRANTED PAROLE 194
97 WERE FED DIETS 194
98 WERE GRANTED ACCESS 192
99 WERE TAKEN ADVANTAGE 192
*Only asked, given, taken could be considered a limited range of verbs at a1. From our corpus, we found sent and taught.
EXPERT EXAMPLES:
This person was sent an email from someone they knew,
but their friends’ email was hacked,
which seems to be happening more and more these days.
In this way, learners were taught a set of sentence structures.