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After given the chicken feed, the crickets become big and strong.

This sentence is wrong, isn't it? It should be

After being given the chicken feed, the crickets become big and strong.

Is that correct?

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Narration or not, it still sounds wrong to me; "after given" as a phrase doesn't make sense. Perhaps the narrator spoke too quickly or accidentally swallowed a "they're", as in: After [they're] given the chicken feed, the crickets become big and strong. – aaamos Apr 10 '12 at 11:35

3 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

Almost. You must also use became instead of become.

After being given the chicken feed, the crickets became big and strong.

If you wish to use become then it should be phrased:

When given chicken feed, crickets become big and strong.

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4  
While you have probably corrected it to what OP is trying to say, it's worth noting that the sentence he thought was correct isn't necessarily incorrect. This technique is often used, perhaps most notably in some styles of narration. – zpletan Apr 9 '12 at 22:44
yes, You are correct. I can very clearly hear a voice-over narrator in a documentary saying that sentence. – Jim Apr 9 '12 at 22:49
@Jim - Does this 'being' grammatically similar to the 'being' in this phrase: 'for the time being'? – Carlo_R. Apr 9 '12 at 23:00
2  
Indeed, this is a voice-over in a documentary! – IVY Apr 9 '12 at 23:19
up vote 0 down vote

If the meaning of the sentence is that the crickets ate chicken feed, I guess that the most correct way of saying it is "after being given... "; I think you could also say "after having been given chicken feed", which however sounds unnecessarily complicated.

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up vote 0 down vote

Possible solution:

Having been given the chicken feed, the crickets have become big and strong

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