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What would be the passive voice of "passengers stay in a hotel".

The whole sentence would be "passengers can be forwarded to their destination in a new flight, or (be kept) in a hotel". "Kept" is not a word I want to use for humans :)

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How about passengers can be forwarded to their destination in a new flight, or stay in a hotel? There is no need for a passive verb here. That is probably also the reason why no passive exists anyway. Unless you mean put up in a hotel, which means more than simply staying, and hence it is a different verb. – Cerberus Oct 11 '12 at 18:35
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Related: Is there a passive for the sentence “Be quiet”? (and probably a dozen others, but that one got posted just a couple hours ago). The answer is always the same. – RegDwighт♦ Oct 11 '12 at 18:38
As a matter of good style, there is no need to use a second passive verb in this sentence. You can simply use 'stay', or, for better sentence rhythm (not quite sure on your meaning) 'choose to stay.' Also, it should be "on" a new flight. – Merk Oct 12 '12 at 0:13

4 Answers

up vote 14 down vote accepted

You can only form a passive out of a transitive verb. To stay when used transitively does not mean the same thing as used intransitively.

The word you might be looking for is lodged. People can be lodged in or at a hotel.

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+1 for the first sentence, but I think in practice brochures and the like would probably say or [passengers can] be accommodated in a hotel. – FumbleFingers Oct 11 '12 at 23:49
up vote 10 down vote

Besides tchrist's suggestion of lodged, you could also say

Passengers can be sent to their destination on a different flight or be housed at a hotel.

(In this instance, house has the definition of: to give shelter to; harbor; lodge

Or you could say:

Passengers can be sent to their destination on a different flight or be put up in a hotel.

Or you could say:

Passengers can be sent to their destination on a different flight or can be provided with a hotel room.

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+1 for put up. – bib Oct 11 '12 at 21:05
up vote 1 down vote

The term checked-in to a hotel is often used, especially when the airline or agency is making the arrangements.

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up vote -2 down vote

I think using stay is already the best solution. The fundamental purpose of using language is to express our opinion in a clear and neat way rather than to using impressive expression to attract the attention

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The original poster is asking for a solution in passive voice. – coleopterist Oct 12 '12 at 2:31
But shall we at first identify the fundamental purpose of finding the passive voice of stay before answering that? – Raju Gujarati Oct 12 '12 at 2:32
If you want to stress that the passive voice is unnecessary, please state so in your answer along with an explanation. A comparison of passengers can stay in a hotel and passengers can be accommodated in a hotel (within the context of the OP's sentence) will also be interesting. – coleopterist Oct 12 '12 at 2:57

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