1. She told me a story.
2. I was told a story by her.
3. A story was told me by her.
4. A story was told to me by her.
(#1 is an active sentence. The others are passive sentences. Do we have to put 'to' before 'me' as in #4 or not? Which ones are correct passive sentences of #1?)
All of the given sentences can be considered passive forms of the active sentence "She told me a story," but there is a slight difference in their construction.
In the case of #2, "I was told a story by her," no preposition is needed before "me." This is a common form for passive sentences and is grammatically correct.
In the case of #3, "A story was told me by her," the preposition "to" is omitted, which makes the sentence sound less natural. It is generally preferred to include the preposition "to" before the indirect object in passive sentences, so this construction is less commonly used.
In the case of #4, "A story was told to me by her," the preposition "to" is included before "me." This is the most common and natural way to construct the passive sentence.
Therefore, #2 and #4 can be considered correct passive sentences of #1, with #4 being the preferred and more commonly used form.
In passive voice sentences, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. Let's analyze the passive constructions of the given active sentence:
1. "She told me a story." (active sentence)
Passive: "A story was told to me by her." (correct passive sentence)
In the passive sentence, "me" is the recipient of the action, so it needs to be included without the preposition "to." Therefore, sentence #4 is correct.
On the other hand, sentences #2 and #3 are not correct passive constructions of the original sentence because they do not follow the correct syntax of passive voice sentences. In sentence #2, the object "a story" should become the subject, but instead, "I" is used as the subject. In sentence #3, the preposition "to" is missing before "me," making it grammatically incorrect.
To form a passive sentence, follow this structure: "Object + be + Past Participle (+ by + doer of the action if necessary)." Remember that "me" is used without the preposition "to" when it functions as the recipient of the action in passive sentences.