Transcript Document

Voice
Lecture 9
Forms and Meanings
Voice is a grammatical category of the
verb, which reflects the semantic role
of the verbal subject.
 This category is based on the functional
opposition of two sets of forms:
active ↔ passive.

The choice of Subject

It depends on the information content of
the sentence.

The choice of verb form depends on the
semantic role of the verbal subject:

if the Subject denotes the agent of the
verbal situation, the verb form is in the
active voice;
Tom shot the tiger.
The choice of Subject

if the Subject denotes the semantic
role of the Patient in the verbal
situation, the verb form is in the
passive voice.
The tiger was shot (by Tom).
The passive voice form

The passive voice form is the marked
member of the opposition. It is formed
by means of the auxiliary be and the
past participle of the full verb.
The tiger was shot.

the Subject function in the passive voice
sentence is performed by a noun
phrase, which functions as Object in the
corresponding active voice sentence.
Tom shot the tiger.
The tiger was shot (by Tom).

Three types of Object can be
distinguished: direct, indirect,
prepositional.

Accordingly, three types of passive
structures should be distinguished:
primary, secondary, tertiary.
Primary passive

a passive voice structure in which the
Subject function is performed by the noun
phrase that functions as Direct Object in the
corresponding active voice structure:
They built ‘Leeds Castle’ in the 9th century.
→ Leeds Castle was built in the 9th century.

Secondary passive

a passive voice structure in which the
Subject function is performed by the
noun phrase that functions as Indirect
Object in the corresponding active
voice structure:
The shop assistant showed me some very
beautiful skirts.
→I was shown some very beautiful skirts.
Tertiary passive

a passive voice structure in which the
Subject function is performed by the
noun phrase that functions as
Prepositional Object in the
corresponding active voice structure:
They always take good care of her dog.
→Her dog is always taken good care of.
Another distinction can be made by passives:
a.
'Central' or ‘true' passives can be placed in
direct correspondence with a unique active counterpart.
This violin was made by my father.
My father made this violin.
b. 'Semi-passives' do not have a clear correspondence
with an active verb phrase or active clause.
We are encouraged to go on with the project.
(The results) encourage us to go on with the project.
c. In 'pseudo-passives' it is chiefly only their superficial
form of verb + -ed participle that recommends them for
consideration as passives.
The building is already demolished.
(Someone) has already demolished the building.
The Agent isn’t introduced if it is:
- unknown: John Brown was mugged last night.
-
irrelevant: What would a student do if he
were deprived of his books?
-
redundant: France played Wales at Rugby
last night and was beaten.
- irrecoverable: Trains have been replaced by
buses.
- connecting two sentences


He rose to speak, and was listened to with
enthusiasm by the great crowd present.
Rodney Huddleston points several restrictions to
active and passive constructions:
a. if an object is obligatory reflexive: Max drank
himself under the table.
b. clauses like: Ed likes bananas. *Bananas are liked
by Ed.
c. 'symmetrical‘ verbs: marry in X married Y
entails and is entailed by Y married X
Huddleston
not all transitive actives have a passive
counterpart
 there are passives with no active
counterpart
 for the most part they involve other
kinds of passive constructions than the
central
 the verb rumour, for instance, is wholly
restricted to passive constructions

Huddleston

Passives with a stranded preposition - deal with,
rely on, depend on, approve of, etc.
He was laughed at.

Agentless passives
The tiger was shot cannot be satisfactory derived
from any actual active clause.
It might be proposed that the corresponding
active is Someone shot the tiger.
Huddleston
Adjectival passives
The vase was broken by Tom (verbal passive)
The vase was already broken (adjectival passive)

In the adjectival interpretation be is not the
passive auxiliary but a main verb and broken
is an adjective derived from the past
participle. The relationship with an active
construction is less direct than with verbal
passives.
Huddleston

-en form non-finite complements
A small number of verbs can take as
complement a passive non-finite construction:
He saw United beaten by Spurs.
In this construction the passive is not marked
by the auxiliary be.
Passive get

Passive voice is regularly expressed by means of
BE + a past participle form of the following verb
(He was caught by the police).

It is possible to use GET + a past participle to
form a passive construction (He got caught by
the police).

The GET-passive focuses more on the actual
action, whereas the BE-passive tends to focus on
the result of the action, especially if no agent is
expressed (The church was demolished).

Passive voice forms are frequently
used in the context of mass media
and in scientific texts.

Active voice forms are used
predominantly in creative writingpoetry, fiction as well as in colloquial
speech.