THE PASSIVE

THE PASSIVE

In the active voice the subject of the verb is the doer of the action:

The children ate everything in the fridge

In the passive the action is done to the subject, which is the affected.

All the food in the fridge was eaten

Passive constructions occur frequently enough not as an alternative to the active ones but with their own distinctive uses.

The passive is formed with the verb be and a past participle (S + BE + V ). Rules applying to the use of tenses in the active apply in the passive too. For example, an action in progress now will be in present progressive in the passive:

We are dealing with your problem.

Your problem is being dealt with

The passive occurs only with transitive verbs. Some verbs (blow, thicken, crash into, dry, sink, fill, increase etc.) can be used both transitively and intransitively:

The house sold well.

The house was sold yesterday.

With such verbs we can change the subject of the sentence without using the passive. These verbs are called 'ergative' verbs.

They filled the ditch with water.

The ditch was filled with water.

The ditch filled with water.

Verbs like give and bring can have two objects and consequently two passive forms:

1. Mother has always given me good advice.

1.a. I have always been given good advice by mother.

1.b. Good advice has always been given to me by mother.

Because we are more interested in people or animals than things, personal subjects tend to be more common than impersonal ones. Many state verbs cannot be used in the passive, even when they are transitive:

He loves Italian pizza (active voice only).

Verbs like measure which can be state or dynamic can only be passive in their dynamic sense:

This piece of land measures 2,000 acres. (state)

This piece of land has been measured. (dynamic)

Only present and past usually have progressive forms:

The thieves are being questioned by the police.

They were being victimised by their employers.

However, modals with progressive passive sometimes occur:

They may be being questioned at this moment.

Transitive constructions with the pattern verb + adverb particle can be used in the passive:

The meeting was put off

Only a few verbs of the type verb + particle + preposition can be used in the passive:

The old rules have been done away with

Passive constructions are common after verbs followed by the ing form, such as enjoy, like, and remember,

Most people dont like being criticised

We can use the passive (-ing form only) after conjunctions such as on and after:

On/After being told the weather forecast she called off the trip.

A few active verbs sometimes have a passive meaning,

This surface cleans easily really means it can be easily cleaned.

A small number of verbs are used more frequently in the passive than in the active: be born, be married, be obliged.

He is not obliged to come over whenever you want.

Adverbs of manner can occur before or after the participle:

This piece has been badly played by the orchestra.

English uses the passive where other European languages use reflexive verbs like burn myself, hurt myself:

Jim was hurt in a car crash last month.

We do not normally use the passive when responding immediately:

~Whats the matter? ~Ive burnt/cut/hurt myself.

We often use abbreviated passive constructions when expressing wishes:

Id like it (to be) repaired

or preferences:

I like it (to be) boiled.

☻Uses of the passive

q     Spontaneous and deliberate. In fluent English passives occur naturally and spontaneously without a conscious change from active to passive:

Rome was not built in a day.

The passive is sometimes chosen when the speaker does not wish to involve himself in actions, opinions or statements of fact of which he is not completely certain:

Thousands of books are published every year and very few become best sellers.

q     For focus. We use the passive when we wish to focus on a happening which is more important to us than who or what causes the happening or when there is simply no need to mention the doer:

My car has been stolen.

Charles I was beheaded in 1649.

q     To avoid vague words as subjects. We always prefer the passive to avoid a vague word as subject (someone, people, a person).

After his lecture, he was asked to answer some questions.

The passive may be avoided when we wish to make what is described as personal:

Mother was operated on last week.

The passive is used in English where other languages might prefer an indefinite pronoun subject like one. In a formal context we would avoid one:

The application has to be signed personally.

The passive is obligatory in notices like English Spoken, Loans Arranged, Shoes Repaired. Such notices are normally abbreviated: E (is) Sp.

q     To avoid the change of subject. We use passive in order to avoid the use of more subjects in a sentence:

The Prime Minister was welcomed at the airport and asked (our reporters asked him) a lot of questions.

The use of by/with + agent

An agent is a doer, that is the person or thing that performs the action indicated by the verb. By + agent is only necessary when the speaker wishes to say (or the hearer has to know) who or what is responsible for the event in question. Information can be given by means of phrases other than by + agent:

This castle was built of stone/before the French invasion.

With is often used with an agent, especially after past participles such as crammed, crowded, filled, packed:

The square was filled with angry people that had invested in the National Fund of Investment and lost their money.

The difference between by and with may involve the presence of a person:

Peter was hit with a rock (somebody hit him with one).

Peter was hit by a rock (it was an accident).

Make is followed by to when used in the passive:

I was made to work hard by my employer.

Cover and verbs which involve similar ideas, such as surround, decorate can use with or by. Cover can also be followed by in. Get is often used instead of be before certain past participles (arrested, caught, confused, delayed, divorced, dressed, drowned, drunk, elected, hit, killed, lost, married, stuck) in colloquial English:

Not having a map, I got lost.

He got concerned when told about an operation.

We use get when

We do something to ourselves: I got dressed.

We manage to arrange something eventually in our own advantage. Reflexive pronouns can be use in such constructions:

She got eventually elected after all the efforts she had made.

In imperatives, commands or insults:

Get dressed! Get washed! Get lost!

Something (often unfavourable) happens beyond our control:

We got delayed because of the heavy snowfall. 

Many words such as broken, interested, shut, worried can be used either as adjectives or as past participles in passive constructions. If the word is an adjective it cannot be used with by + agent and cannot be transposed into a sentence in the active.

She was worried about her sick child. (adjective)

She was worried by mosquitoes. (passive)

The passive with verbs of saying and believing

Some passive constructions also have the role of implying cautiousness. Thus we have,

1. It + passive + that-clause with verbs like agree, allege, arrange, assume, believe, consider, decide, declare, discover, expect, fear, feel, find, hope, imagine, know, observe, presume, prove, report, say, show, suggest, suppose, think, understand.

It is said there will be an early spring.

2. There + passive + to be + complement with verbs like acknowledge, allege, believe, consider, fear, feel, know, presume, report, say, suppose, think, understand.

There is said to be a new election this year.

3. Subject other than it + passive + to-infinitive, with a few verbs like acknowledge, allege, believe, consider, declare, know, recognise, report, say, suppose, think, understand.

He is considered to be a genius in Mathematics.

Other verbs besides be are possible:

Dr. Nicholson is said to know everything about this disease.

Suppose has two different meanings in:

He is supposed to be at work at the moment.

a)      People think he is at work.

b)      It is his duty to be at work.

There + be also combines with suppose:

There is supposed to be a plane to Los Angeles at 4 p. m.

To change an active clause into a passive one we have to:

a)      replace the active verb phrase by the passive one [be (at the tense in the active) + past participle (of the main verb)];

b)      make the object of the active clause the subject of the passive clause;

c)      make the subject of the active clause the agent of the passive clause, when needed by the context.

SUBJECT  ACTIVE VERB OBJECT

Many critics  criticised his new novel.

His new novel was criticised by many critics.

SUBJECT  PASSIVE VERB BY AGENT

Except for a few cases, all active sentences with a noun phrase or pronoun object can be made passive having four different basic patterns:

Active Passive

1. S V O S V (passive) by agent:

The detective was murdered by the butler

2. S V O V S V (passive) V by agent:

He was persuaded to leave by the police

3. S V O O S V (passive) O by agent:

I was given this watch by my father

4. S V O C S V (passive) C by agent:

He was considered a genius (by his wife).

Some typical contexts for the passive

v   Formal notices and announcements:

Candidates are required to present their identity cards.

v   Journalistic language:

Many people have been questioned but the mystery is getting deeper

v   Headlines, advertisements, notices, etc.:

Kennedy assassinated

v   Scientific writing (in descriptions of processes):

The mixture is boiled in a recipient until it melts.

☻The causative

We form the causative with have + noun/pronoun + the past participle of the main verb:

I have just had my shoes mended.

Get can be used in place of have sometimes with a slightly different meaning. There are instances where the past participle can be omitted:

I had a tooth out yesterday (pulled out).

In contrast to the passive we use the causative to stress the fact that we are causing someone else to perform a service for us. We often use it with verbs like build, clean, decorate, deliver, develop (a film), mend, photocopy, press, print, repair, service. We do not normally use the active voice (Im servicing my car) to mean that someone else is doing it. Nor can we say I want to cut my hair when we mean I want to have my hair cut.

The causative with verbs like coach, instruct, prepare, teach, train can refer to things we cause to be done to other people.

Active I am teaching you English (myself).

Passive You are being taught English.

Causative Im having you taught English.

This construction is used in the sense of experience:

When he got up to speak, the minister had eggs thrown at him

or of allow:

I refused to have my house used as a hotel,

or to describe a present result of a past action:

We now have the claim solved.

Get is stronger than have and contains a stronger idea of action by the subject:

I must get this car serviced soon,

and also implies a difficulty. Get with an object before to-infinitive conveys the idea of persuade or manage to:

I finally got the car to be serviced.

EXERCISES

33. Rewrite the sentences in the passive. Omit the agent where possible.

Someone has swept the pavement.

The pavement has been swept.

People spend a lot of money on presents at Christmas time.

Is Tom making a new hen house?

Who told you about this?

They made her study harder this semester.

Jane showed me some paintings that she bought from the exhibition.

The teacher is going to teach his students a new chemistry lesson.

They may not buy that old house after all.

People generally make fun of stupid fellows.

My husband walks the dog twice a day.

34. Rewrite the following sentences as shown in the example

It is said that this bridge is the longest in the world.

This bridge is said to be the longest in the world.

He is known to make a lot of trouble wherever he goes.

They were reported to have sold a lot of stocks.

She is expected to have another baby.

It is said that they were expelled from the country.

He is rumoured to have run away with another woman.

It is forecast that strong winds will be blowing next month.

The company is said to have big losses.

It is believed that the ship sank very close to the French shores.

She is widely believed to have won the competition by using drugs.

35. Write in the active the following sentences

I was told that my TV set would be repaired in two days but it hasn't been delivered yet.

They told me that they would repair my TV set in two days but they haven't delivered it yet.

Jill was allowed to go on that trip, but was told that she was expected back as soon as possible as she was needed at her office.

He had been told how that machinery was to be handled but in the end he was helped by the foreman to have that device started.

The house had been painted before it was bought by the new owners who were brought to view it first by my friend.

She had been given every possible advice but she got trapped by villains in the tropical jungle.

Most of the plants were grown with great care but were destroyed by the bad weather we had this winter.

My friend was offered several jobs but she preferred to be sent to work overseas.

It is said that new drugs against HIV have been discovered but nothing has been put on market yet.

Paula was taken to hospital after she had been injured by a speeding car.

This novel was written while its author was held in custody by the local police.

36. Rewrite the sentences using causative have/get.

The man has asked the porter to open the door for him.

The man has had the door opened.

A new dress has been sewn for Frieda.

My car is being washed and polished now.

Our house will be painted and repaired next month.

She asked him to write the report for her.

Mrs. Gravel asked the maid to scrub the floor in the kitchen.

The boss will deduct money from your salary if you are late with your work again.

We called somebody to cut down the old oak tree from the garden.

Did you ask the milkman to bring two bottles a day?

10. He employed an architect to design the plans for the new house.