"She was bought a house by him"

[seleehong]

the sentence "She was bought a house by him" is gramatically wrong? If it is wrong, what is the reason for that?
I understand that "He bought a house for her" is more natural than "She was bought a house by him".
But I just wanted to know whether "she was bought a house by him" is gramatically wrong or not even though it isn't used generally.
I heard that the expression "she was bought" is awkward because it means "she was sold".
But "she was bought" doesn't sound "she was sold" to me because "he bought a house for her" means " he bought a house and gave a house to her"

 

[Rover_KE]

Is the sentence "She was bought a house by him" [STRIKE]is[/STRIKE] grammatically wrong? If it is wrong, what is the reason for that?

I understand that "He bought a house for her" is more natural than "She was bought a house by him", but I just wanted to know whether "She was bought a house by him" is grammatically wrong or not, even though it isn't used generally.

It's grammatically correct.

 

[BobK]

I'm not sure I'd agree entirely - or anyway, if grammatical it's not logically satisfactory. "A house was bought by him for her' - that works. The 'by' tells you more about the doer of the 'was' verb. I know he was the buyer in both cases but the 'was' and the 'by' are either side of a participle in my version, so the meaning is clear. But when you've got a verb that takes two objects I feel 'She was bought a house by him' is saking to much of both the wore 'by' and the reader/listener. ;-) In any case, I'm sure nobody would ever say it (except maybe a student parading their knowledge of the 'she was bought' form). ;-)

b

PS
BNC records only 3 cases of 'she was bought by', and in all 3 cases buy is used in the single-object sense.

 

[Tarheel]

"He bought a house for her." (He was her agent.)

"She was bought a house by him." :-?

:roll:

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

"He bought a house for her." (He was her agent.)

Maybe. I think he bought her an expensive present.

Anyway, the grammar is fine, but it's a terrible sentence.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I understand that "He bought a house for her" is more natural. "He bought her a house" is better.

I heard that the expression "she was bought" is awkward because it means "she was sold". No, it doesn't. It means she was bought. Buying is the opposite of selling.

Hope that helps.

 

[Tdol]

Grammatical correctness does not necessarily mean that a form is used.