Testify in passive voice

TESTIFY (v)

(a) The subject is a person:

When someone testifies (作證,證明) in a court/official inquiry, they give a statement of what they saw someone do or what they know of a situation, after having promised to tell the truth.

[intransitive verb] He testified before the grand jury.

[+ that clause] She testified that she saw the defendant at the scene of crime.

(b) The subject is a thing

If one thing testifies (證明, 表明) to another, it supports the belief or shows clearly that the second thing is true.

(c) to express one’s belief in God publicly

(d) to say that you believe something is true because you have evidence of it (Business English)

Top-quality science graduates are becoming harder to find, as many employers will testify.

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(1)

當 subject 是 person, testify 多數解”作證”, with exceptions in (c) and (d)

The sentence (1) is wrong. It does not make sense to me. 原句作者可能英漢字典見 testify 解 ”證明, 表明”, 便直接中譯英. I may be wrong in this assumption.

當 subject 是事物 testify 可解”證明, 表明”~ prove, show, indicate.

The empty shops in the high streets testify the depth of recession.

These ruins testify to the existence of Roman occupation.

The experimental results testify that the approach is feasible and efficient.

(2)

They testify themselves, ~ It is grammatically correct.

“testify oneself” is not used in this way. Perhaps you may write….

These things cannot prove anything in the trial. How can you testify yourself?

I rephrase the original sentence as follows:

“People cannot personally testify that ……..”

Testify (作證) is an intransitive verb (no object) in most cases. It cannot be passive. If such a sentence “People can be testified by other professionals” is acceptable, it implies that” testify” is a transitive verb.

Changing it back to an active form:

Other professionals can testify people.? ? ?

It is better to write …..

Some professionals can testify that people………

Answer to Question 1:

Yes, sentence 1 implies that people can testify even while they are sleeping. However, the meaning of the verb "testify" in this sentence is "demonstrate" or "show", and not "declare", because obviously people can not make a clear declaration while sleeping.

Answer to Question 2:

In sentence 2, "testify themselves" and "can be testified" are used correctly if the meaning of "testify" or "testified" is intended to be "declare" or "declared". The sentence indicates that the person sleeping can not testify (make a declaration) himself, but the declaration can be made by professionals on their behalf, based on observing thier behaviour in their sleep..

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