phrase (passive/blame) · formal

be blamed for + noun / V-ing

UK/bi bleɪmd fɔːr/US/bi bleɪmd fɔr/BLAMED

Band 6-7task2speaking

to be held responsible for something bad that has happened

Examples

“The company was blamed for the oil spill.”

“He was unfairly blamed for the team's defeat.”

“Governments are often blamed for economic downturns.”

Band 8 sentence

“Although initial reports blamed the city council for the flooding, later investigations found multiple contributing factors.”

Collocations

  • be unfairly blamed for / be widely blamed for
  • blamed for the accident / blamed for mistakes

Word family

blame verb / nounblamed adjective / past participleblameless adjective

Common mistakes

is blamed by→is blamed for

was blammed for→was blamed for

Say it for a higher band

5faulted for→6responsible for→7+be blamed for + noun / V-ing

Synonyms

be held responsible for

Easily confused

blamed for / blamed by

“The manufacturer was blamed for the faulty brakes.”

Related words

had been + past participlebe + past participleto have been + past participlebe used to + Vbe + past participle + by + agentnoun + past participle (reduced relative clause)be seen as + noun / adjectivehave/has been + past participle

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In The passive

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